


A Favor House Atlantic

by Cascalence



Series: The One About Serial Killers [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Medical Trauma, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Psychological Trauma, Serial Killer Dean Winchester, Serial Killer Gabriel (Supernatural), Serial Killer Sam Winchester, Songfic, mentions of goreplay, serial killer au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:28:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 21
Words: 34,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25738072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cascalence/pseuds/Cascalence
Summary: How was Gabriel supposed to have known that being a lone serial killer would bring a sense of home with it, when the Winchesters showed up in his life?
Relationships: Gabriel/Sam Winchester
Series: The One About Serial Killers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1873609
Comments: 61
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

He knew what he was. And he was okay with it.

Why? Well, because he was very self-aware, and self-accepting. 

Yes, he enjoyed what he did. But more than that? He enjoyed ridding the world of real evil.

Or...he had. He'd slipped up, and wound up victim to one of his would-be victims.

See, Gabriel was a serial killer. But he had special kinds of victims.

Murders. Rapists. Pedophiles. Animal abusers. On occasion, domestic abusers as well. Usually, he left those alive and impotent, though.

So how had he wound up here? Dog fighting. He'd caught wind of it a couple of cities back and started working on it, trailing down the kingpin in the gods-awful business. And he had found him, he definitely knew that now. He'd broken into Asmodeus Prince's place to confirm his suspicions. He'd found his evidence and went to leave to plan out how he was going to kill the bastard, when he'd run into Assmodeus himself, along with some lackeys.

He'd put up a fight, but he wasn't used to having to do so. He usually caught his victims off guard with a syringe to the neck.

In the end, he'd found out that Assmodeus wasn't just an animal abuser...but he didn't really want to go there.

Sitting in the windowless room, handcuffed to a steel bar mounted to the wall at knee-height, with his lips sewn shut, he wandered when the dick was going to cut them off again so he could get another bite or two of food. Every few days, he'd wind up given food in this manner, before the demon of a man would sew his lips shut again. Gabriel had resisted the stitches the first few times, of course, but he'd wind up knocked out, and worse, if he didn't just comply. So he gave up on that front.

...He was starting to give up on a lot of fronts, to be truthful. He wanted to fight, he did. Wanted to kill his mark for personal reasons now. But everything he did...it all just wound up being fruitless.

Huffing a sigh through his nose as he crouched by the wall, leaning into it, he tensed as he realized there was light coming into the room now. Not much, of course...it was night, but still.

His gaze snapped over to the doorway and he blinked. There was someone standing there. Someone taller than his captor. Was he saved?

The man seemed to be scanning the darkness. His eyes, barely visible in the moonlight, stopped when they fell on Gabriel. He was still for a moment, then looked away, scanning the rest of the room before stepping forward.

His footsteps made not one damned sound as he approached. He shifted in the moonlight enough for Gabriel to catch sight of a gun in his hands, before one left it and came up to his masked face, a digit over his lips in a gesture for silence. The man stopped a couple of feet beyond Gabriel's reach and turned, crouching down and training his full attention on the doorway, gun lowered, but ready.

What was this? A robbery? What was the man watching for? Why wasn't he freeing him? Or killing him, if this was a robbery going bad?

Confused, Gabriel remained silent, a slow, dull flicker of hope rising in his chest.

It built, despite his reservations, over the next few long minutes before he jumped at the sound of gun shots, three of them, from elsewhere in the house. About thirty seconds passed beyond that before he heard a male voice yell somewhere from beyond the door. "Clear!" it called.

The man in the room stood, tucking his gun into the back of his pants. "Survivor, conscious!" he called back, before turning back to Gabriel.

Gabriel tensed a bit as the man drew closer, before coming to his knees in front of him. "Shh, you're alright," the man spoke softly, pulling something from a pocket. Gabriel's eyes fell on it as it opened, but he couldn't really see what it was. Then the man was pulling tools from the opened case that Gabriel recognized. He used to have a set of lock picks, before his capture. Watching as best as he could, his eyes peered as the other man set to work on his cuffs.

There was only the sound of thin metal pieces clicking in the room, before the man suddenly spoke again. "Make the call," he said. Gabriel looked up at him before catching motion out of his peripheral. He jumped harshly, slamming into the wall beside him and making the man before him drop a pick. There was another man in the doorway now. Were these guys cats, or what?? Someone needed to put a bell on them!

The man in the doorway was on the phone. "Coroner and ambulance needed, 105 Preston Ave," he spoke shortly, before hanging up.

There was a click of the cuffs, and they fell away from him. Gabriel looked back at the tall man, taller than the second, that was knelt in front of him still. Their eyes met and Gabriel found himself wanting to know what color they were. The moonlight that barely hit them gave a blue tinge, but...they were either brown or green. Maybe hazel? He wasn't sure.

"Asmodeus Prince is dead. He can't hurt you. We're leaving, but you need to stay here. We called the police. An ambulance is on the way. You need to stay here. Okay?" the man in front of him spoke.

Fear spiked in Gabriel. His breathing started coming in short pants and he shook his head, until he felt a weight on his shoulder. He stilled under the man's hand, staring at him.

"You are safe now. It's safe. We have to go, but we'll watch until the ambulance has you. You're safe."

Gabriel stared for a few breaths. There was a distant sound of sirens, probably still a few streets over.

"We need to go. Now, dammit," the man in the doorway spoke.

The man in front of him said nothing, waiting.

These men had saved him. ...And he found himself believing it, believing that he was safe. But the men...the men had to go or they'd be caught, saviors or no.

So he nodded.

The man squeezed his shoulder gently before pulling away. Seconds later, they were gone, moving without a single damned sound. Gabriel was going to have to learn that trick, for future use. ...Once he could manage to get back into the game, anyway.

After that, it was a blur. Police, ambulance... The police had actually tried to arrest him! He was cowering by a wall with his lips still sewn shut, and they were trying to arrest him! Fortunately, a detective showed up and yelled and chewed out the beat cops until they had readily fled from the fuming man.

The detective had followed him, now on an ambulance gurney, out to the emergency transport.

"Listen, cher, I can see that you've plainly been through a lot. And that you can't exactly talk right now. But I need to know what happened. I'll give you the night at the hospital and see you there sometime tomorrow mornin', to see if you're up for answering questions," the man said. He held out a card to Gabriel then and Gabriel took it. Detective Benny Lafitte. Gabriel nodded as he stared at it, before looking up. Detective Lafitte gave him a tight smile, then turned to go examine the scene.

Gabriel relaxed further, now in the ambulance, as he spied a body bag coming out of the house, bound for the black coroner van.

At the hospital, the first thing they'd done was rid him of the stitches and ask his name. "Gabriel Shurley. I...I have a brother, Castiel Novak," he supplied, before rattling off Cassie's number.

He'd been examined, patched, fed, and hooked to an IV. He was exhausted, all the adrenaline crashing. He was almost asleep when his baby brother swept into the room and launched himself into Gabriel. Grunting in pain, he found he could care less as he gripped onto his brother, hugging him just as tightly as he was being clung to.

"Ten months! I...I was so sure you were dead," Cassie cried into his shoulder, the fabric of his hospital scrubs quickly becoming damp. Then he sat back. "What happened?" he demanded.

Gabriel shook his head. "Detective coming in the morning. I'll explain it all then. I don't want to go over it more than once, Cassie," he spoke, voice quiet with the overwhelming need to sleep.

Castiel looked like he wanted to protest, but he didn't. His baby bro always did back the most logical play.

Gabriel scooted over in the bed, and didn't even have to gesture before his brother was in the empty space.

He didn't remember falling asleep, but he woke with his head tucked under his brother's, face buried in his chest. He fought back a groan and carefully extricated himself from his brother, freezing when he realized they weren't alone in the room. His head snapped up to the chair in the corner before he relaxed. Detective Lafitte sat there and slowly stood, seeing Gabriel awake.

"Sorry to startle you, cher," the detective whispered.

Gabriel shook his head, then reached down to wake Castiel. If he didn't, he'd have to repeat this story, and he didn't want to go through it again.

Castiel came awake slowly, but seemed to remember everything as he did. He'd always been like that, highly in tune with his memory. He looked over at the detective, squinting curiously.

"Detective, Cassie. He's here to get his statement. Know you wanted to hear it, too," Gabriel supplied quietly. He was still tired, but he was pretty sure sleep was over for a while.

They sat in the bed, side by side, as Gabriel gave a few lies to start off. He did have a legit job, had to keep Cassie from knowing what he did in his spare time. He was a traveling insurance salesman, and he told the detective that he wound up in the situation by knocking on the dick's door. He claimed Asmodeus apparently liked what he saw...which was mostly true. After all, the asshole had raped him during his captivity. Probably the only reason he hadn't killed him outright or thrown him to the hounds, but he didn't say all of that. No, he told Cassie and the detective about being brought into the house under the ruse of making a sale, and then being knocked out, cuffed up, raped, lips sewn shut, being fed every few days.

And then the detective asked about how he'd gotten free, and how Asmodeus had died.

Gabriel stared at his hands. He wasn't sure what to tell and what not to tell. Because he was grateful. And he felt protective of his saviors.

"Gabriel?" Cassie spoke quietly, thinking him lost in his own mind.

"Masked men. Killed him. Took off my cuffs. Left," Gabriel spoke flatly. He brought his eyes up to the detective, his honeyed hues glinting hard. "Statement's done, that's all I have to say," he said.

The detective blinked and was quiet for a moment before nodding slowly. "Can't say I blame you, cher. I'll try to keep on this case, but I can't promise it won't be handed off. If it is...someone will wind up pestering you for further detail," he advised.

Gabriel nodded shortly. The detective left, and breakfast was brought in. Gabriel ate silently, then finally looked at his brother. "Go get something to eat, Cassie. I'll be here," he said softly.

Castiel looked fit to protest. But he didn't get a chance to do so before a man in a white coat walked in, a chart in his hands.

"Gabriel Shurley? I'm Dr. Wesson," the man started, eyes on the chart as he flipped through it. Gabriel stilled, staring. He knew that voice. And he was surprised, genuinely. It was a gutsy move, for one of his saviors to show up.

Hazel eyes met his. If the man saw Gabriel's recognition, he hid it well...played his part well. "I'm just making some rounds and wanted to make sure you weren't having any pain," the man--'Dr. Wesson'--said. The smile he gave was gentle, warm, caring...just like a good doctor would give.

"Thank you," Gabriel croaked out, his entire being starting to tremble. It was all catching up with him. Tears prickled in the corner of his eyes and Castiel let out a concerned murmur next to him. Gabriel shut his eyes to a concerned frown tugging at his savior's lips. He shook his head as Castiel put a hand on his arm.

"I'm alright, baby bro. Just, uh...still tired, I guess." He opened his eyes, but stared at his lap. "I, uh...not too much pain, doc. They...uh, y'all have me on some pretty good stuff right now, I reckon," he said.

"Mm, so I see," Gabriel heard, along with a shuffle of paper. "Well, it looks like we're doing pretty good with you. I do recommend a psych eval for whatever trauma you've experienced, but that is entirely up to you. If you need anything, use the Nurse Call button and let them know, alright?" he said.

Footsteps. So he could make noise. Gabriel's eyes shot up, but the supposed doctor was out of the room already. ...At least he'd been able to thank him.


	2. Chapter 2

He was in the hospital for almost a week. Cassie was at his side the entire time, save when Gabriel managed to force him out so he could get some food, and when hospital staff made him leave in the late evening for the night. The detective showed a couple of times, too. He was nice. But his last visit, he had told Gabriel the chief was closing his case, since there were no further leads. Which was fine with Gabriel.

There weren't any other visits from either savior, as far as Gabriel knew, but...he had a feeling they weren't gone just yet. Small things clued him in.

Gabriel had never been a deep sleeper, and the nurses that came to check on him in the night were hardly quiet. So he knew it wasn't them when there was a cup of ice water on the bed tray when he woke from his first nightmare. That happened a few times, too.

Then there was the small pot of African Violets that he woke to just yesterday. No card attached. Castiel had questioned him on where they'd come from. Gabriel, holding the pot and gently playing with on of the buds, had shrugged.

Gabriel was grateful. His saviors were telling him that they hadn't abandoned him. And really, Gabriel was comforted by that. He knew most people would probably think that it was creepy or obsessive, but Gabriel didn't. Not yet, anyway. After all, it wasn't like they'd left him his favorite candy or something. Now that? That would've set off some alarm bells.

But now Gabriel was out of the hospital and Cassie was putting a duffel with the clothes he'd bought for Gabriel into the trunk of his car. Their plan was to stay at a hotel for the night, before heading back to Castiel's home a couple of states over. Holding his plant as he settled into the passenger seat, Gabriel wasn't sure how to feel. He was happy to be free, happy to be in his brother's presence...but he didn't expect that his saviors would continue to hang around, and certainly not to follow them. And it made him feel uneasy. Unsafe. Which was ridiculous on some levels. He was a killer, not that his brother had a single clue on that.

Parking at the hotel, they made their way in and Cassie booked them a room with two queen beds. A bed...a real bed. He'd flopped down onto his, near the window, admiring the feel of a bed for the first time in...in apparently almost eleven months.

It was comfortable, but he was feeling restless.

"Cassie, this place got a pool?" he asked as his brother sat on the opposite bed.

"And a hot tub, I know how you favor those."

"You're awesome, little bro. I'm heading for the hot tub, then. Just to soak for a while until I can relax," Gabriel said, getting back up. He gently touched one of the petals on his violets, left on the nightstand, then grabbed a towel from the bathroom. "I'll be back in time for us to decide on dinner," he told Castiel before leaving the room.

When he got to the pool room, he frowned, not immediately seeing the hot tub. But then he noticed the room was shaped oddly, an almost hidden corner in the back of the room. He headed back and around the corner, there was a relatively small hot tub, free of guests. Smiling, Gabriel tossed his towel on a nearby chair, stripped to his boxers, and climbed in, sinking into the water and resting his head back against the side. He closed his eyes and smiled a bit faintly.

He never thought he'd get this again. Not...not the hot tub, but...life. No, he hadn't spared a single thought about hot tubs during his captivity. He'd thought about Cassie, a lot. Thought about what he'd do to Assmodeus, given the chance. Hell, he'd even thought about Kali once or twice, even though they had long been over. Kali...she'd been the closest thing he'd had to a real relationship. He'd almost told her about what he did...about how he killed killers.

Thankfully, he hadn't. She had betrayed him, slept with his cousin Balthazar. That had been rough, but he'd been able to shut off his emotions about her. It had taken a long time to process those, but in the moment, he'd turned cold and left her.

A splash from the main pool startled him from his revelry. ...Someone must've come in to use it. Not surprising he didn't hear over the sound of the filtration systems. Settling back against the side once again, Gabriel shut his eyes once more and relaxed.

It was quite a while after that (he'd almost dozed off in the hot tub), when there was a voice suddenly. A vaguely familiar voice.

"So, we done stalking the pixie?"

Gabriel, eyes still closed, raised an eyebrow as he eavesdropped.

"Yeah, Dean. I stopped keeping track as soon as he was discharged," the second voice answered, sounding annoyed.

His eyes snapped open. That voice? He knew that one.

They were here. ...Had they followed him? Gabriel frowned for a moment before the words caught up with him. No...no, they hadn't followed him. That he and Cassie were in the same hotel was, amazingly, just coincidental.

There was silence for a few seconds before the first one, 'Dean,' spoke again. "Good," he said gruffly. "We got a lead in Louisville."

"Tell me," the second's voice came.

"Kids missing. Every three months for the past eight years, like clockwork."

"Connection?"

"Schools. For the first five years it was an elementary school on the west side of the city. Then another for the last three years. Charlie's working up a list of everyone in the vicinity of the schools that moved within the given timeline."

Silence stretched for a long few moments before the second spoke, almost too quiet to hear. "Pedophiles make me sick."

"Yeah, I know, Sammy. I mean, it could be trafficking, but even then, it's not like those kids would've wound up anywhere good," Dean spoke.

"Exactly. I'll pack up when I get...."

Silence again.

"Gabriel?" Cassie's voice called. Well, shit, he was caught listening in.

"Back here, Cassie," he called from around the corner, keeping his tone light.

Castiel came around the corner, surprisingly joining him in the hot tub.

They had soaked for a while, then gone back to the room and gotten redressed, heading out for a good burger. And man, that had been the best burger of Gabriel's life. Probably only because he hadn't had one in over ten months, but still....

They came back and Cassie had passed out while Gabriel worked on catching up on his favorite soap. When he looked over and saw his brother asleep, he turned down the TV until the episode was over, then turned it off, shut off the lights and curled up under the covers.

He had not a single clue what time it was when he startled awake to someone sitting down on the side of his bed. His eyes flew up and he tensed as his gaze darted around in panic, until it settled on the man sitting beside him. 'Sammy,' as he'd been called.

"Hi ya," he whispered, a smirk curling over his lips. Was this going to be an entreaty, or a threat?

"...Hey," Sammy whispered back, breaking their eye contact for a second. When he looked back up...well, it was hard to read his expression in the dark, but he didn't exactly look all that happy. "Look, we know you've kept quiet on us...that you didn't even say how many men had been in the house, but...but I'm here to ask you to continue that. I'm sure it's not easy, but my brother and I..." he trailed off, frowning as he tried to find words to express something.

Entreaty, then. That made Gabriel's decision for him. He shifted and sat up. "Take me back to your room. I need to show you two something," he said.

"Wh--"

"What am I gonna do, Samster?" Gabriel pressed with a smirk.

Sammy frowned, but he gave a nod and stood, moving silent over the floor. Gabriel followed, padding as softly as he could despite knowing that his brother slept pretty heavily.

There was hardly a whisper of a sound before they were in the lit hallway. Sammy gave him a dubious but curious glance before leading the way to the elevators. They were both silent as they rode down two floors and walked down half a hallway before Sam halted in front of a door. He fidgeted with his key card, giving Gabriel another one of those glances. Then he sighed and stuck the card in, pulling it back out before opening the door.

"Well?" came Dean's voice. "He gonna..."

Sam stepped to the side to reveal Gabriel, and Gabriel couldn't help but grin at the brother's shocked expression. "Hey ya there, Ken Doll!" he greeted. His eyes then sidled over to Sammy. "So, Samshine...got a laptop?" he asked.

"What is he doing here?" Dean snarled lowly, fingers twitching and shoulders rolled forward in an intimidating display. Sammy didn't seem to pay any attention to him, moving with a curious frown on his lips and pulling a laptop from under the bed furthest from the door.

"Not sure myself, Dean," Sam finally answered after crossing the room and holding out the laptop to Gabriel. Gabriel's lips twitched in a half-smile, half-smirk, as he took the offered device. Giving no verbal response, he walked to the chair in the corner of the room and sat, opening the laptop.

It was password protected. He raised his eyebrows, humored, and started typing nonetheless. Once over the simple barrier, he started bringing up web page after web page.

He could feel Dean's furious glare...and oddly, he felt Sammy's gaze on him, too. He finally glanced up to see Sammy watching him with open curiosity, despite a faint downturn of his lips.

Saying nothing, Gabriel held the laptop out to him.

Sam stepped forward and took it, starting to look through the pages. It took two minutes of him standing there, Dean reading over his shoulder, before his head shot up, eyes wide.

"Sam?" Dean spoke, noticing that his brother had put together what they were being shown.

Gabriel smirked and waited until Dean looked up at him as well. Sam was without tension, in his surprise. Dean, still not connecting the dots, was coiled tightly. Gabriel looked between them and leaned back in the chair, arms over the rests at the sides.

"They call me Judgement Killer," he told them.


	3. Chapter 3

Two things happened at once.

Dean drew a gun from the back of his pants and aimed it at Gabriel's head.

Sam spun and put himself between them.

"Move, Sam!" the older brother barked.

Laptop precariously balanced on his inner forearm, Sam raised the other hand in an attempt to placate Dean.

"Dean. Wait. Okay?" Sam spoke quietly, his voice entreating.

Gabriel sat with his eyebrows raised, smirk in place. He wasn't scared of Dean, or Sam. Not only had they saved him, but death was a far better option to the torture he'd endured under Assmodeus. So even if the older brother decided he was too dangerous, Gabriel knew he wouldn't draw out his death. He knew enough to know that wasn't there modus operandi.

Sam pulled a phone from his pocket with his free hand and soon, a ringing was sounding through the room.

"Sup, bitches!" a female voice sounded as the call was answered. "You know it's o-dark-thirty, right? What's going on?" she cheerfully chirped.

Sam gently tossed the phone to land face up on the nearby bed. "Talk to us about the Judgement Killer," he spoke, voice even as he stared down what Gabriel was pretty sure was his older brother. Sure, Sam was taller, but Dean gave off protective-older-brother vibes.

There was a beat of silence before the sound of typing behind the voice as the woman spoke. "Well, he's a bit uh...bloodier than you guys, I suppose, but as far as I can tell, he does what you do. Goes after assholes. Ya know, murderers, rapists...even animal abusers. Until almost a year ago, anyway. Hold on...ah, yeah, FBI places his last victim in June of last year, so a year now. No leads on suspects...are you guys wanting to go after him?"

"Yes." "No."

The brothers spoke in unison and Gabriel withheld a laugh.

"Ooo-kay.... Well, if you give me a bit, I can see--"

"Gabriel Shurley," Gabriel spoke.

There was a long, stretched silence. Then a whispered, "Holy shit." Another beat of silence and a panicked. "Shit, are you guys okay??"

"Yeah, Charlie, we're okay," Sam spoke. Dean grunted, but was still aiming his gun where Gabriel's head would be, were Sam's stomach not in the way.

And then the sound of typing again before her voice came back, though it clearly sounded uneasy.

"Gabriel Shurley, 34, permanent address is registered to one Castiel Novak...looks like a half brother? Job is legit, insurance sales, lots of travel. Classic yellow VW Bug registered in his name...but nothing that I can find immediately that would tie him to the Judgement Killer. Other than, ya know, being off radar for almost a year...."

There was complete silence as the brothers seemed to be silently communicating. Sam's posture was open, but from behind, Gabriel couldn't read it. A gap between his arm and torso allowed him a view of Dean, and the older brother was becoming more and more tense. Finally, he snapped. "He's a killer, Sam! We can't just let him go!"

"You're forgetting our day job, Dean," Sam came back with severe acidity. Gabriel raised an eyebrow at the tone.

"We don't do it for kicks! You know that!"

That had Gabriel tensing, anger coiling in his chest.

"Dean--" 'Charlie' started, but Gabriel interrupted, standing up behind Sam.

"I got this, Charles. Thanks for the assist," he spoke, voice growling. Sam tensed at the sound, but did not move from between his brother and Gabriel. "Look, bucko, I don't know how you two got in the life, but me? My start was bloody. Childhood was great. Even after Dad cheated and Mom split, I had a fantastic little brother in my life. And I wish I could tell you what happened, but what I can tell you is that my oldest brother got quiet. Stayed out later and later, until he'd be gone for days. Started acting twitchy. ...I've been over it so many times in my head, but there was no way I could've suspected what he was doing. Gods above, I wish it'd been drugs. But no, see, Mikey went crazy for some reason. I came home one day to Lucien tied to a chair, guts all over the floor. And Raph's head was only on his shoulders because bone's a bitch to saw through," he spat out. He could see Dean starting to look a little green, but he didn't stop. "Lucien was still alive enough to let out a yell, to warn me. Mikey had been sneaking up. To cut a long story short, Mikey was my first kill. After that...I decided no one needed to go through that sort of shit. And here I am," he said, raising his arms in gesture.

"Sick," Charlie muttered weakly on the other end of the phone. A gag sounded shortly after before the call ended.

Slowly, Sam began to relax again. Something he was reading in his brother had him moving out of the way to sit on the end of the bed that he'd tossed the phone onto. He shut the laptop and set it to the side.

Dean was staring blankly, looking like he was going to vomit, too. The minutes stretched before finally, the gun was tucked back into the back of his jeans. His eyes came up to meet Gabriel's, then he looked at Sam, making a gesture toward Gabriel with his head and heading for the other bed to sit down.

Raising an eyebrow, Gabriel turned to look at Sam. Sam looked decidedly uncomfortable. And more than a little ill.

"When I was a baby...my mom caught a pedophile trying to abduct me from my nursery," he said, a bit pale. His jaw ticked for a moment before he continued. "He killed her. Dad didn't make it up the stairs fast enough to catch him. There was a fire, too...we never got specifics on how it was set, especially that quickly, but...Dad was..."

"He went a little crazy," Dean supplied. "Dropped us in a motel and disappeared. I was four...I don't know how long he was gone. Days, at least. A family friend, Bobby, showed up and made sure we were fed."

"Dad came back and got us...and started training Dean pretty much immediately. By the time I was five, I could shoot. By the time I was ten, I had helped hunt down my first killer, shot him dead" Sam added.

Gabriel stared, looking back and forth between the two of them. "...Your Dad brought you two up...trained you, to hunt serial killers?" he spoke, a little shocked.

Sam looked down to his lap, and Dean nodded. "He was a former marine. Brought us up to always triple tap. Two in the heart, one in the head. Used to rant how it was too much mercy, when he got drunk...but then he'd sober up and make sure we stuck to the drill. Less risk of getting caught that way...and it would ensure the job was done."

Gabriel was quiet, then nodded slowly. And then he frowned. "Wait...why is it just the two of you?" he asked.

"Drunk driver," Sam spoke quietly, then gave a scoff of derision. "Not that Dad was all that sober himself when it happened," he muttered. Dean frowned, but didn't say anything about the remark.

"Soooo...Charlie? How's the chick fit in here? Girlfriend?" Gabriel asked, looking back and forth and bouncing his eyebrows when Sam looked up.

"Ew," Dean let out as Sam chuckled, shaking his head.

"We're not Charlie's type...and she's kinda become family anyway. ...She's former FBI. Found us. But uh...I'm not a total slouch at hacking myself, so I caught her before she could submit the information to her field agents. I don't know how, but I managed to talk her down. She uh..." Sam started, looking at his lap and grinning, looking humored.

"She crashed the FBI's servers, and as they were coming back up, erased everything on us from them. Only one agent even noticed it, but he didn't suspect her. Thought that the killers he was tracking had done it somehow," Dean finished, smirking a bit at the memory.

Gabriel couldn't help to chuckle. "Despite having never met her, I can't help but to like her," he said with a grin. Sam and Dean both smiled. "So, boys...what now?" he said.

Sam's smile slipped a bit, confusion showing on his face, and Dean faltered a bit.

"Uhm..." the older brother began.

Sam straightened slightly, then gave a nod to himself before meeting Gabriel's eyes. "We network."

"Network?" Dean spoke, looking over at Sam. Sam nodded, looking at Dean, then back at Gabriel.

"Dean and I don't do this alone...but you're used to it. So if we find something while working on something else...we can send you the info?" he said.

Gabriel winced a bit and frowned. "Yeah...yeah, but uh...I'm going to take a while before I get back in it, guys. Cassie has no idea what I do, so I can't exactly use him for backup, and after how my last excursion went? I need to...to recalibrate. Figure out some new ways to go about doing what I do. I..." he started, stomach twisting at the confession he was about to give. "I was at the end of my rope before you two showed. My head was going to a bad place."

"...What do you mean?" Dean spoke up.

"Dean," Sam clipped in warning. A glance at the younger showed that he knew what Gabriel meant.

Chuckling almost darkly, Gabriel shrugged. "S'fine kiddo. We're talking suicide right now, Deano. Impaling myself on the shears that he used to cut the stitches through my lips, when he would allow me food."

Dean looked green again.

A glance at the clock had Gabriel frowning. "I'd best get back. Cassie's an early riser," he said, before exchanging numbers with the brothers. Sam and Dean Winchester. They said they'd forward his info to Charlie, too.

When he left the room, Gabriel felt...he didn't know what. Good, that was for sure. He had...he had friends. Friends that knew, that got it. He'd never had that before.

This was awesome.


	4. Chapter 4

Cassie took him home the next morning. Well, to Castiel's home, anyway. Gabriel just happened to use it as his permanent address.

Anyway, Gabriel took the next week to just relax. Nothing strenuous or worrisome. He'd integrate back into society after the week.

The Winchesters both texted him off and on. Nothing big at first. Just a check-in, something they apparently did with the few contacts they had. At the end of the second day, though, he got a picture message from Dean. Sam, asleep, with a plastic spoon sticking out of his mouth while he curled in the passenger seat. Gabriel couldn't help but chuckle and reply with a simple, "Nice one."

Three days later, and they went radio silent for over half the day. He usually got at least one text in the morning, and one in the evening, from either or both of the brothers. Tempted to text them first, he barely restrained himself.

It was good he had. "Louisville's wrapped up," he received from Sam late that evening. Gods forbid he had texted them in the middle of that...though he was sure they were smarter than to leave their phones on, let alone audible, during one of their kills.

"Best pie ever," came two days later, from Dean, with a picture of a razzleberry pie, topped with copious amounts of whipped cream, two bites already gone.

"I bet Cassie's is better."

Day 7 was radio silent again, but Gabriel decided not to be concerned.

Late evening, while he and Cassie watched the last episode of the most recent season of Dr. Sexy, his brother left to answer a knock at the door. He couldn't discern words, but heard the voices. The Winchesters?! He jumped up, abandoning his beloved soap to draw up behind his brother who was frowning in puzzlement. "Dean? Sam? What're you guys doing here?"

From behind Dean, Sam smirked. "You bragged on your brother's pie. Dean had to come try it for himself...if Castiel would be willing to make one?" Sam spoke, gaze shifting from Gabriel to Cassie.

Cassie blinked, tilting his head. "Ah...I'd have to go to the store, and it is rather late..." his brother spoke.

Dean, who had not taken his eyes off his little brother, merely grinned. "Tomorrow it is! Mind if we visit for a bit with you guys? We'll go find a hotel after," Dean assured.

Castiel moved to the side in a silent grant of entry. They all made their way to the living room, where they sat down. Cassie and Gabriel took the sofa, while Dean took the sofa chair and Sam stretched just a bit on the loveseat.

"I'm sorry, you both do look familiar, but not enough for me to place how you know Gabriel," Cassie spoke. Sam shifted as though uncomfortable, but smiled pretty openly. "Ah, yeah, of course, sorry...do you remember the insurance group's picnic lunch a couple of years ago? I know it's been a while, but we met there. Dean and I work as claims adjusters for the company. We caught wind of Gabriel being alive, after all this time, just a couple of days ago. We wanted to drop by and check in," Sam said.

Cassie took the lie easily, nodding slowly. "Of course. ...I'm very glad to see some of my brother's friends. I was concerned when no one else reached out, honestly," he said, his azure gaze moving from Sam to Gabriel.

Gabriel frowned a bit and shook his head. "Cassie, Cassie, Cassie. I'm the big brother here, I'm the one that's supposed to fret over you."

Castiel opened his mouth to say something, but a bark of laugh from Sam stopped him. The younger Winchester laughed. "Dude, really? That's not how brothers work...not to mention, I think he has every right to be worried about you after how long you were gone."

Gabriel couldn't help but smirk as he shrugged. "Touche, Sam-I-am."

"So, Cas...I know that we discussed it before, but it's been so long, I forgot. Whaddya do for a living?" Dean spoke.

Cassie blinked at the nickname, tilting his head. He took a moment before remembering he'd been asked a question. "General surgeon in the local ER. I tend to handle the emergency cases. Mostly appendectomies, but it's hardly a small city. There's a fair share of stabbing and gunshot wounds, too," he answered.

Dean's eyebrows shot up, his expression clearly impressed. "That's awesome! How'd you get into that?"

Castiel's gaze shot to Gabriel, then flitted back to Dean in the next instant. "Medicine is something that comes naturally to me, I suppose," he spoke. The words were smoothly spoken. If Gabriel hadn't known Cassie, he'd have thought it true. There was a silence after that, settling over them all. The Winchesters were sensing the lie, too. But Gabriel wasn't about to force his brother to reveal his reasons in front of people that the surgeon hardly knew.

And so, he clapped his hands together, drawing everyone's attention. "I have an idea! If you guys are open to it, anyway. Stay here tonight. The basement has a couple of rooms that Cassie converted to guest rooms a few years ago...and it'll save you time and money in getting a hotel room."

"...Isn't this Cas' house?" Sam spoke up, glancing between Gabriel and Castiel a few times. "I mean...I appreciate the invitation, Gabriel, but--"

"The house is in my name, that is true, but Gabriel paid almost half of the mortgage. The invitation stands...but I haven't cleaned those rooms in...in uh..." Castiel started, before seeming to cringe inwardly. "In quite a few months," he finished quietly. The other three winced in understanding. They hadn't been cleaned since Gabriel disappeared, probably deemed unimportant in the face of his missing brother.

"That's fine, Dean and I can do a little sprucing up beforehand. Do you have clean sheets for the beds?" Sam asked, standing and smiling in a way that somehow seemed to soothe the whole atmosphere.

Cassie's tension eased under the smile and he nodded, standing as well and leading Sam upstairs to the linen closet.

"Sam's wanting to stick around for a while," Dean spoke suddenly, voice keyed low so that he wouldn't be overheard.

Gabriel blinked and looked from the stairs to Dean. "What's going on? Everything alright?" he asked quietly, curious and a little concerned.

Dean half-smirked and nodded. "He wants to help you get back on your feet. Help you figure your shit out," he said. He stood then and shrugged. "If you want, we'll show you how we do things. Maybe it'll help. Entirely up to you what you do, though, when you get back out there," he told Gabriel.

"...I was thinking of learning how to shoot, anyway," Gabriel said with a smirk.

It wasn't but a couple of hours later that they all went off to bed. Exhausted, Gabriel wound up asleep within ten minutes.

He jolted awake to...something. His heart hammered as he sat up, trying to figure it out, when he heard a softly whispered, "Dammit." He wasn't sure who had spoken...just that it wasn't Cassie. Cassie's voice was deeper, rumbled like echoing thunder. Who else--oh yeah, the Winchesters were here.

He was happy he remembered that before a very tall shadow moved into his doorway. "Sam," he breathed, relieved and slowly calming down.

"There uh...there's a loose board against the wall here. It creaked," Sam whispered, moving across the floor soundlessly. He was holding something.

"Mm, it's usually not an issue. Everything alright? Whatcha got there?" Gabriel spoke. He wasn't loud, automatically adjusting his volume to match Sam's, but he wasn't quite as quiet, either.

"Uh...a gift, I guess. I mean...I did get it for you, but until Dean told me you actually were interested in learning, I wasn't sure about if and when to give it to you," Sam spoke. He held forward what was in his hands; a box, black and unassuming.

Curious, Gabriel reached forward and took it. It was a bit on the heavy side, but not uncomfortably so. Gabriel made a sound in his throat that expressed his curiosity, shifting in the bed to not only make room for Sam, but to allow more of the outside street light to illuminate the box. He set it on the bed, then lifted the lid.

Inside was a gun, and a couple of clips. Gabriel's brows shot up. He reached in, carefully lifting it out. He didn't know anything about guns, but that you pointed them at the person you wanted to shoot. He looked it over, curious, and blinked as he turned it and saw something carved into it on the right side, near the back of the gun. "...What's this?" he asked, fingers brushing over the symbol.

Silence reigned until he looked up, meeting Sam's gaze. He could see enough of him to know that Sam was embarrassed about something. "I uh...I gathered enough about you to know that you were named after an angel. And uh...that-that's Enochian. Language of the angels, supposedly. It's uhm...your name," Sam spoke quietly.

Gabriel wanted to hug the man. Hell, he wanted to kiss him, but he wasn't going to go down that road, nope! "Sam...thank you. This is amazing, and I can't express my appreciation of it. It...it's just amazing," he said, breaking their gaze to look back down at the gun.

"I'm happy you like it, Gabe. Sorry I woke you. I'm going to head back to bed," Sam spoke, standing.

Gabriel nodded, fighting back a frown. He didn't quite want Sam to leave yet...and he was going to have to analyze why. Later. He was feeling tiredness creep back on him, in spades. "Thanks again, Samshine. See you in the morning," he spoke, reverentially tucking the gun back into the box. When he looked up, Sam was gone. Withholding a sigh, he put the lid on the box, then tucked it under the bed near the headboard, to keep it safe. He nuzzled back into his pillow, and that was the last thing he remembered until morning.


	5. Chapter 5

When Gabriel came downstairs the next morning, it was to find Sam and Dean sitting at the kitchen table with mugs of coffee in front of them. He yawned widely, nodding to them in greeting, as his eyes made their way to the fridge. There was a note there from Cassie--he was picking up a shift at the hospital this morning. There was a list of pie ingredients he didn't have underneath it, for one of them to pick up before he got home.

Pulling the list off and tossing the note on top of it, he put the list down by Dean's elbow. "You want pie, you get the stuff for it," he murmured sleepily in explanation, before heading for the coffee pot to fix himself up his morning dose of highly sugared caffeine.

At the fifth spoonful of sugar, he had a strained noise behind him. He glanced back to see Dean watching, lips twisted in humor, and Sam staring in something between disbelief and concern. Smirking, he added two more scoops of sugar, a good measure of half and half, and then filled the cup the rest of the way with coffee. A stir, a sip, and half a spoonful more of sugar later, he took a seat at the table.

"How are you not diabetic?" Sam all but whispered.

"Hypoglycemic, actually. Body metabolizes sugar too well," he answered. His mind tried to go down a dark road about how he should be dead, should've been dead, two days into his captivity, because of the condition. But somehow, his body had held out. He didn't know how, but he knew he'd passed out quite often because of it.

Dean tilted his head, seeming to think along the same lines, while Sam's lips twisted into something that wreaked of concern. Gabriel shrugged and took a deep drink of his coffee.

It was Dean that finally broke the silence a few moments later, while Gabriel woke up. "So, since I'm going to be picking up pie stuff, Sammy here is gonna take you to the shooting range. Give you the basics and all. We'll work on your aim and all later. And after lunch, we're going to start working on training your body, too," he said.

Gabriel smiled, internally. He was grateful to the Winchesters, more than he could say. But he couldn't help himself. "Training my body, huh? Why Deano, I didn't think you swung that way," he leered.

Coughing coffee, Dean let out a strangled sound while Sam started laughing.

"Oh, he does, on occasion. Unfortunately, Gabe, you're not the one he has his eye on," Sam said, smirking.

"Bitch," Dean coughed out with a glare.

"Jerk," Sam shot back easily, still grinning.

It took a second for the words to process for Gabriel and his smile slipped as his gaze shot up to Dean. "Cassie??"

Dean flushed and looked away, looking uncomfortable. "Shut up," he muttered.

Gabriel was quiet for a long few moments, thinking. Slowly, Dean looked back at him, his expression shuttered. Gabriel could tell he was expecting a threat, a warning to stay away. 

Frowning, Gabriel sighed. "Look, Cassie...I don't know if he's interested, haven't been paying enough attention since you two formally met, but...I...I don't want him finding out about what we do. Not because I think he'd reject the notion...he never commented negatively about the way my persona was portrayed by the media...no, because I want him to have plausible deniability if it ever comes up, for any reason," Gabriel spoke, feeling a little strained at the words.

"You don't have to worry about Dean telling him," Sam cut in, drawing Gabriel's gaze from the small relief in Dean's eyes. Sam was staring at his coffee cup, forlorn. He looked up at Gabriel after a moment and gave a weak smile. "I'm the weak link there," he said, getting up to get more coffee.

"Sam..." Dean started, but Sam shook his head.

Dean sat back, frowning at his own mug, still half-full.

Gabriel wanted to ask, but he had a feeling Sam was already gathering his thoughts to tell him. So he waited.

He was rewarded as Sam sat back down with a sigh, before beginning. "I...fell into this relationship with a girl named Ruby. It was intense in a way that I...I didn't know I'd craved," he said, before shutting his mouth with a frown. After a beat, he took another breath and continued. "After about three months, I was so sure of her...I told her everything. And she accepted it. Hugged me, kissed me, said that...that I was a hero," he spoke, eyes distant and smile...smile all wrong. Like that should've been his first clue or something. "A couple of months later, she brought me some research she'd done on her own. She wasn't the best at it, but she had found enough for us to look twice. A few keystrokes confirmed her findings, and..."

"And we started training her. Her first kill was less than a year later," Dean cut in.

Sam nodded slowly. He took a deep breath, seemed to weigh something in his mind, then continued. "We trusted her. Why shouldn't we? Not long after that, she zeroed in on Vegas. Said it was a hellhole. And we took to following her lead with less and less evidence."

"Sammy, tha--"

"No, Dean. Gabriel didn't have to reveal himself to us, could've just kept quiet and let us all go our separate ways. He deserves to know," Sam said, his eyes focusing and zeroing in on his brother. Dean scowled, but nodded.

But before Sam could continue, he cut in. "She got Sam hooked on E. It was recreational at first, but blew out of proportion within the space of months," he supplied.

Sam scowled. "It's still not an excuse, Dean," he clipped. He rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. "Ruby, she...she had a problem with rapists and pimps. Given what we know now, it was understandable, but it escalated. I didn't even know...I--" he struggled to articulate something, so big brother stepped in again.

"She pointed him at an innocent while he was too doped up to realize what he was doing," Dean said, voice somehow both angry and soft at the same time. All the same, Sam flinched and started to curl in on himself.

"When I started coming down, started remembering his pleading...I confronted her. She said...she said he was just the same as all the others. That there was no difference between a rapist, a john, and a guy who went to a strip club with his buddies," Sam said, head barely lifted, gaze fixed on the table.

Gabriel was seeing red. "She'd know all about that, wouldn't she?" he snapped. "She practically raped you herself!" he began, seeing Dean relax back into his seat from the corner of his eye. "She took all the good you did and twisted it into something ugly, Sam. And that's not on you, got it?" he implored.

Sam, still not looking up, shook his head. "No, I should've--"

"What, Sam? What clue would you have had, especially after she stuck that first pill in your mouth?" Gabriel interrupted.

There was no shine of tears in Sam's eyes, but the next breath punched from him, sounding like a half-sob. Slowly, he looked up at Gabriel, seemingly afraid of what he'd see there. Not really knowing what was in his expression, Gabriel held his gaze, tried to show that he believed in what he'd said. And slowly, oh-so-slowly, tension drained from Sam's shoulders, apprehension from his eyes becoming replaced with relief.

Dean broke the moment by standing. "Alright, you two. Gun range. Meet back here in two hours, we'll get lunch, and start some training," he spoke, setting his now-empty mug in the sink.


	6. Chapter 6

Dean departed with the list, and Gabriel caught a glimpse of his car as he drove off. He couldn't help an appreciative whistle, and he heard Sam chuckling behind him in response. "Only real thing Dad left us," he supplied. "Gave it to Dean a couple of years before the accident. Car's been through hell, but he always fixes her up," he told Gabriel.

Gabriel turned to see a fond look in Sam's eyes, before it turned slightly sheepish. "Sorry...Baby, the Impala...she's kinda home for us," he said with a half-shrug.

"...Can't say I relate much to that, kiddo, but I don't think it's something to be ashamed of," Gabriel said with a slight smile.

Sam nodded for a second, then seemed to come out of some sort of reverie, nodding outside. "We'll have to use your car to get to the range. I usually would just lift one, but if we're going to be here for any amount of time, that'd draw too much attention," he said.

Gabriel chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Alright, let me go change and grab my gun so we can head out," he spoke, heading for the stairs.

"Not yours, not today. We need to teach you quite a bit before we switch to it, so you know what you're dealing with, what you're doing," Sam told him. Gabriel paused, but nodded without turning, before heading on up.

Twenty minutes later had them sitting outside the gun range, waiting another five or so minutes for it to open.

"You should've seen the look on his face when he couldn't put the bottle down. Super glue has to be one of my favorite pranks," Sam said between chuckles.

Gabriel wiped at his eyes, grinning before he shook his head. "My favorite's itching powder. Used to lace boxers with it. Especially Lucien's. He always retaliated...but it was all fun. I think the worst thing he ever did to me was...ha, he used Cassie as a prop, mixed uh...I think it was mustard and baked beans? Cassie was a baby still, and we were taking care of him. He made it look like Cassie had had diarrhea all over himself with it. I actually threw up," Gabriel said with a fond smirk. Sam's nose had wrinkled at the tale, but he chuckled all the same.

"Man...that's awful. And a little awesome," Sam said with a smirk.

Gabriel nodded, looking down before shrugging. "That was Luci. Oh, hey, they're opening the doors," he said, moving to get out of the car. He had driven...Sam's long legs barely fit in the car, there was no way he'd could've done so.

They went inside and an hour of drilling gun parts into his head later, he was finally allowed to shoot.

"Fuck me!" he cried out after the first shot. The recoil was not wholly unexpected, but was underestimated. He shook out his right hand, part of it numb, and his wrist aching. "What the hell, man?" he spoke, looking up at Sam.

The damned sasquatch was smirking. "Gotta get used to it!" he called back over the noise dampener muffs they were wearing. Gabriel had frowned, but nodded in agreement. So he continued shooting. His aim was shit, but for right now, that was fine.

When they got back to Cassie's, Dean was there and waiting. They sat and had lunch, consisting of the gourmet lunch meats that Castiel liked to keep on hand, with delicious artisanal bread. Both of the Winchesters were making some porngraphic sounds at the meal, and Gabriel couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

Near the end of the meal, however, Dean spoke up, mouth half-full as he chewed around his words. "So after food, we're going into the backyard, and I'm going to show you some basic attacks you might expect, and some self defense moves. Tomorrow, Sammy's going to start on helping you build muscle mass, and after a week, we'll work on the more offensive stuff. Good?" he questioned.

Gabriel nodded, smirking a bit at Sam's wrinkled nose. "Swallow your food before you speak, Dean," the younger brother chastised. Dean rolled his eyes, but said nothing in response.

Leaving Sam to clean up the plates and cups from lunch, Gabriel and Dean went outside. Dean gestured to a spot for Gabriel to stand and lunged at him with a fist. Gabriel didn't budge as it stopped short of his face, smirk solidly in place.

Dean rolled his eyes. "That's where you dodge."

"No need, Ken doll. I knew you'd pull it," Gabriel said with a shrug.

Scowling, Dean mocked Gabriel's words under his breath, then stepped back, starting to circle Gabriel. "That's not what you need to focus on. You need to focus on how to react. You know as well as I do, the people we go after? Not gonna pull punches, not gonna hold back," he said.

And then he moved in a blur and grabbed Gabriel's throat.

And he was back _there_.

There was a hand around his throat, hot breath in his ear, and his body was in pain. He tried to shut it out, but it wasn't working. He was vaguely aware of his breath picking up, but beyond that, his awareness was gone.

How long he stayed like that, he didn't know, but he finally started to pull from it when something in his sight started working again. He could see something beyond the darkness of the room he'd been trapped in. Light. Light reflecting on brown, gold, and green.

He was staring into someone's eyes, he realized.

There was a voice, too. A tremor moved through his body as he tried to focus. The voice was saying his name...just his name, every few seconds.

He blinked slowly. He knew this person. He reached for recognition, for memory.

"...Sam," he croaked weakly.

He was awarded with a smile that was, quite frankly, beautiful.

"Hey. There you are. Come on, come back to us," he said.

Frowning, Gabriel tried to tilt his head, only to become aware that Sam was holding his face in his hands. He stilled, feeling another layer of calm and awareness start to wash over him.

"Wh...what happened?" he asked, his throat feeling dry for some reason.

Sam was quiet for a moment, his eyes leaving Gabriel's for those few seconds, before meeting his gaze again. "The other shoe dropped. I know it's been two weeks since then, but you haven't allowed yourself to process what happened, Gabriel. And those sort of things don't stay in place."

Gabriel found himself making a strained, distressed noise in his throat. "But..."

"Hey. It's alright. We'll help you through this, too," Sam assured. His eyes went up and behind Gabriel for a moment, then met his gaze with a faint smile.

"Yeah," Dean's voice cut in, sounding a bit gruff. Gabriel couldn't help but flinch slightly, having not realized he was there.

"You two need to wear some damned bells or something," he growled, pulling back from Sam's hands. And very carefully not thinking about how he wished he hadn't when their warmth was gone.

His statement was rewarded with chuckles from both the brothers. Gabriel couldn't help but relax at the sound, and he slowly worked on getting up from where he'd been on his knees.

He felt shaky...he needed a dose of sugar. Saying as much to the brothers, he made for the house. He didn't hear anything behind him, but he wasn't surprised this time when he turned around in the kitchen, from grabbing a candy bar, to see them both there. Dean was heading for the fridge, and the reason why was soon obvious. He pulled out three beers from it, passing one to Sam and offering one to Gabriel.

It was a stout, and those went well enough with chocolate, so the accepted the older Winchester's offer with a word of thanks. They all then took a seat around the table, quiet and thinking their own thoughts.


	7. Chapter 7

It wasn't long after that, that Cassie came home. He looked haggard...it must've been a rough day. His little brother looked around at the three of them, still sitting around the table nursing beers, then went to the fridge and pulled one out for himself. Cracking it open, he tilted it back and took a good few swallows before stopping for a breath.

"Bad day?" Dean asked, looking Castiel over. Not in the way that he was checking him out...but instead like he was inspecting for injury. Hm...interesting.

Castiel stood there, by the fridge, half-gone beer in hand, and eyes on the floor. "...Very," he finally spoke quietly. 

Gabriel frowned and shifted slightly in his seat. "Come on, baby bro. I know patient confidentiality and all, but Dean and Sam aren't going to say anything, and you know I won't. Talk to us," he invited.

Cassie's eyes darted back and forth in indecision. Finally, his mouth set in a grim line, and he shuffled forward to the remaining chair, dropping into it with a grunt.

"There was an...an infant today, and...I couldn't save her," he said, eyes on the beer bottle as he picked at the label.

Both the Winchesters frowned, but they didn't push for anything. Gabriel knew Cassie better, however. Knew that if he was going to get his brother to unload, he'd have to ask.

"Why was she brought in?" he started, reaching up to his brother's shoulder and giving a gentle squeeze.

Cassie was tense as all hell. All the same, he leaned into the touch. His mouth opened, then shut. His skin took on an unhealthy pallor, tinged with the faint look of sick. Oh, boy, this was gonna be bad.

Cassie's mouth opened again, working for a moment, before he finally managed a broken whisper. "Vaginal tearing."

The air grew thick, and a glance at the Winchesters revealed their rage, barely hidden. Sam was working to hide his visceral reaction, but Dean was clearly having more difficulty. Gabriel was pretty sure if he gripped that bottle any tighter, it was going to break in his hand. He shifted his gaze back to Cassie.

"How extensive, Cassie?" he prodded.

He was alarmed when his brother vaulted up, making it to the sink in time to vomit. That was something he'd never seen before, not out of his brother. He sat back, more than a little shaken at that.

He noticed then that the Winchesters were having one of their silent conversations. Their shoulders were both set and squared, but it definitely wasn't an argument. It was an agreement, a determination. After a moment, Sam's eyes moved to Castiel's back as the surgeon rinsed his mouth out. He stood and approached, carefully placing a hand on Cassie's upper back, between his shoulder blades. "You did what you could, man," he started, but he didn't get any further before the other man whirled on him, looking like he might be about to commit murder.

"Do not attempt to placate me," his baby brother growled lowly. Gabriel was more than a little shocked at Castiel's behavior...and could only reason it had to do with what he'd seen. "She wasn't even a year old and what had been done to her..." he began, before looking sick again.

"Easy, Cas. We get you're upset. We just want to help," Dean spoke, turning in his seat. Surprisingly, that got through to Cassie, and the man's shoulders slumped.

"Come sit back down, bro. Come on," Gabriel spoke, patting his seat. Castiel looked reluctant, but then he looked at Gabriel and moved back over, taking the seat.

"The police are trying to track down the mother's boyfriend," Cassie revealed after a moment. Sam moved back to his own seat.

"Was it him?" the younger Winchester spoke.

Cassie shrugged. "He is the prime suspect. He was left alone with the infant, but I overhead the mother's statement. She seemed insistent it wasn't him," he spoke. He sounded weary and worn.

Gabriel tilted his head for a moment, then grabbed his brother's arm and drew his attention. "Come on, now, Cassie. Take a step back from it. You're good at this. Tell me what you think," he implored.

Castiel was still for a moment, but Gabriel could see in his eyes when he did that mental and emotional withdrawal from the situation before him.

"...The mother said the infant had been left with the boyfriend multiple times since her birth, but while I was not looking for it, I'm certain there was no previous trauma to the incident that took her life. Likely, the boyfriend trusted someone else with the girl's care. Perhaps he is on the run because he knows he would be blamed, or because he feels guilty. Perhaps both," his brother spoke.

Dean's gaze shot to Gabriel, curiosity at Castiel's current analytical state written all over his face.

Sam, however...Sam stiffened. It drew both Gabriel's and Dean's attention, but the tall man was staring at Cassie.

Cassie noticed, after a couple of long beats of silence, that Sam was staring at him. When Castiel tilted his head in question, Sam's eyes darted first to Dean. Dean blinked, then sat up and back a bit, jolting in alarm. Sam then looked at Gabriel, but Gabriel couldn't read what he was saying.

Finally, Sam looked back at Cassie.

"You know."


	8. Chapter 8

Gabriel's head swiveled around to face his brother so fast, it almost kept going. "Cassie?" he spoke, volume slightly elevated in his alarm.

Castiel's eyes narrowed as he looked back and forth between the other set of brothers. Seeming to come to a realization, though he didn't seem surprised by it, Castiel nodded in a grave manner. "I do," he confirmed.

There was a long stretch of silence. So long that Castiel actually started to look uncomfortable.

"How? ...How long?" Gabriel finally spoke, practically breathing the words.

At that, Cassie drew his gaze from matching Sam's, looking at his big brother. "I suppose since Michael. As for how...I don't know, I just knew," he answered, tone holding little weight. He looked back to his beer, reaching out to hold the bottle with one hand, the other once again picking at the label. "I've always been analytical. It's been quite some time, but I remember that at some point after you recovered from the shock of what happened to our brothers, of what you'd had to do...there was a determined sort of spark in your eyes. Like you wanted to protect the world from enduring the same experience. I expected that, at some point, you'd need medical assistance without the risk of questions you couldn't answer. So--"

"So you went into medicine," Sam piped up. Castiel didn't look up, but Gabriel looked over at him. A deep respect was shining in his eyes. Looking at Dean showed the same, along with admiration. Gabriel looked back to his baby brother. Shit, how had he missed that his brother had known this whole time?

"You went missing," Cassie started suddenly. "You went missing, and I was so sure, for the first month, that you were going to show up with a wound and some wild explanation, if not the truth. The second and third months, I was sure that if you did show up, you wouldn't be hiding the truth anymore. The fourth month came, and I...I tried everything to pick up your trail. But I could find nothing. I held out hope, but...I really didn't think I'd see you again," Cassie confessed. His voice had started to waver, though he was carefully withholding actually tearing up. He sniffed in a breath through his nose, looking up at the Winchesters. He paused for a second as he took in their expressions, then shook his head, moving past it. "Thank you. I know enough to draw the conclusion...you're the men that killed that bastard and freed him," he said.

Sam ducked his head slightly. Dean looked uncomfortable. They weren't used to interacting with survivors and their families, that was plain to see. A beat of heavy silence passed before Dean rolled his shoulders, shrugging it off. "S'what we do," he said, taking another drink of his near-empty beer. Sam only nodded in agreement, staring at the table.

"So now that it's out there that I know...I'm fairly certain that Gabriel is the one the media gave the moniker 'Judgement Killer,'" Cassie started, complete with making air quotations with his fingers. Bless his baby brother. "But I've only just met you two, and don't have a clue how you operate. Has the media picked up on your movements?" he asked.

Sam breathed a laugh, shaking his head as he looked up. "No. There was an FBI file on us at one point, but a contact erased it. There is an agent working on rebuilding it, but we're not so easy to track, because we were taught simple is best."

"Taught?" Castiel asked with a frown.

"Our Dad brought us up, trained us, for this life," Dean cut in. "Mom was murdered by a kidnapper, and Dad was a former marine, so...that's how he got in," he explained with a wave of his hand, sitting back in his seat. Sam nodded to confirm the statement.

Cassie didn't look very happy about this information, but was accepting it. "Perhaps how you were brought up is a better way in than another way," he commented.

They were all silent for several long moments after that, each in their own head. It was Dean that brought them all out of it by turning a grin on to Cassie.

"So...about that pie," the older Winchester spoke.

Hours later, and they were eating Chinese takeout, a caramel apple pie in the oven. There was real vanilla bean ice cream in the freezer waiting to be served with the hot pie, too.

Gabriel got up to toss the last of the takeout containers as Cassie got up to get the pie out, the oven timer seconds away from going off. When Gabriel came back, his little brother working on serving up pie in the kitchen, Sam and Dean were staring at their phones. Their expressions were thunderous.

"Guys?" Gabriel piped up. 

Dean looked up, but Sam didn't, though it was he who spoke. "Charlie's got it figured out. What happened to the baby," he said. He looked up then, eyes distant as he continued. "Alicia was left with her mother's boyfriend, but he went out for more formula. It's all recorded on the monitor system the mother had set up. He left his uncle with her," he continued.

"We're going," Dean said, getting up, his posture taking a hard edge to it. It wasn't unlike what Gabriel remembered seeing when the brothers had rescued him.

"Going where?" Cassie spoke, coming in with four bowl-plates of pie and ice cream balanced in his arms.

Dean looked conflicted for a brief second, and Gabriel had a feeling it was because of Cassie, not the pie.

"We've got an asshole to kill," Sam said simply as he stood also. His gaze was colder than ice...and that concerned Gabriel. He had not seen Sam without some warmth to his eyes. But right now? There was nothing of that. ...But Gabriel understood. He did, he knew what it was like to feel that vengeful wrath. Sam wasn't thinking of anyone but this monster's victim.

Gabriel wanted to go, too. Wanted to make sure the dick couldn't ever do it again, that he felt the full extent of his crime. But he also knew he wasn't ready.

It bugged him a bit, knowing how the Winchesters did things. It was too swift, too simple. But he knew that was the reason they weren't in the limelight like he was. And he wouldn't begrudge them their personal safety, especially not when they still took out the trash in the process.

"Sit, guys. He's not going anywhere, not this soon. Eat your pie, then go," Gabriel spoke simply.

Sam tensed, eyes snapping to Gabriel and looking decidedly angry. But then he looked at Dean and slowly backed down.

Dean was looking at Cassie like he'd hung the damned moon, and Gabriel could only imagine that Dean didn't want all of Cassie's efforts to make and serve the pie going to waste.

Cassie himself was looking unsure of the whole situation, staring down at the plates in his hands.

It was Sam that finally moved, carefully taking two of the servings from the surgeon's grasp. "Thanks, Cas," he spoke, handing one of the servings off to Dean.

Cassie looked up, murmuring an, "Of course," before handing off Gabriel's serving to him.

They all sat, in various positions around the living room.

And as Gabriel went to take a bite, he stopped short at a blatant, practically-sexual, moan. His eyes cut over to Dean, whose eyes had rolled back in pleasure.

He was unable to help himself. "Damn, Deano, do you need to take that to your room? Or maybe you should take Cassie instead, seeing as something he made gave you that much pleasure," Gabriel spoke with a smirk.

Sam was grinning (and oh thank the gods, he could still smile after his earlier mood).

Cassie was red as a tomato from the neck up, and had shifted to conceal his crotch.

Dean said nothing. He flipped Gabriel off and tucked into the rest of the pie with relish.


	9. Chapter 9

Less than an hour later, the Winchesters were off after their prey, and Gabriel was helping Cassie clean up the kitchen.

They were both quiet, but Gabriel found that this quiet was the easiest one there had been between them in years. There were no longer any secrets between them. It loosened something in Gabriel, had him relaxing more than he had in years.

And that relaxation brought forth things he hadn't made the time to think about before now.

Things involving a certain tall, hazel-eyed, floppy-haired fellow serial killer.

He frowned in thought. He was attracted to Sam. He was self-aware enough to recognize that much. But was he attracted because of Sam saving him, or because of Sam himself?

"Brother?" Cassie's voice came. Gabriel looked up. "I think that dish is clean," his little brother continued. Gabriel looked down at the plate in his hand. Yeah...if he cleaned the black plate much more, it was going to turn see-through.

"So it is," he agreed, setting it in the dish drainer. He looked over at Cassie. "Wanna rewatch all of Dr. Sexy?"

Cassie frowned. "You're far too obsessed with that show. It's unrealistic. Wearing cowboy boots in a hospital is a health code violation. Not to mention how uncomfortable it would make rounds," he said plainly.

"Deano likes it."

Cassie's mouth clicked shut. Gabriel grinned broadly. "And you like Dean~," he sing-songed.

Cassie looked away from Gabriel, but didn't deny it. In fact, he said, "He is aesthetically pleasing...."

Gabriel grinned madly. Oh, this was going to be fun! He was so going to toy with them and tease them both until they got it together. He was willing to bet that Sam would help him out with it, too.

His smile slipped. Sam. He needed to figure that out. Was he actually attracted to him, or the idea of him? Should he act on it? He didn't know...this was going to require a lot of introspection. That had him scowling. He was good at that sort of thing, but that didn't mean he enjoyed it.

"Gabriel?" Cassie spoke. Gabriel blinked, looking up. "What is troubling you?" his little brother asked.

Gabriel shook his head, plastering on a grin. "Nothing big, Cassie. Promise. Just trying to figure something out myself. Don't worry...no more keeping you in the dark. When I've got it figured out, I'll share," he assured.

Cassie...Cassie's shoulders lost the tension that had been building in them. He looked relieved as he nodded. "I will be here when you're ready, brother," he told him.

They wound up watching Die Hard. Near the end of the movie, the Winchesters showed back up. They both looked tired, but it was clear; the job was done. The asshole was dead and could never hurt anyone else.

They all talked for a few moments...nothing consequential, really. And then they unanimously agreed that it was long time for bed. The TV was shut off, then the lights, the Winchesters heading downstairs, and Cassie and Gabriel heading upstairs.

When Gabriel woke the next morning, he nearly panicked. Someone was in his bed. The only thing that kept him from panicking was that this hadn't happened, not even close, during his captivity. Very slowly, very carefully, he looked over his shoulder to see who the line of heat against his back was.

He couldn't help but blink owlishly at the sight of Sam Winchester. And damn...he looked.... Gabriel grasped at words. Peaceful? Warm? Happy? Content? Angelic?

Gabriel carefully didn't move, willing to bet that if he did, it'd wake Sam. Oh so carefully, he settled back into the position he'd woken in.

How had he not woken when Sam had crawled into his bed? He was a light sleeper! Just how much stealth did the damned Winchesters have, exactly??

And why was Sam in his bed? And what right did he have to look so damned happy to be there, even in his sleep??

"G'briel?" came a sleepy murmur. Well, crap. He was pretty sure the kid knew he was a light sleeper, so no use pretending he wasn't asleep. He turned over fully to face Sam.

"Mornin', kiddo," he spoke simply, keeping his voice down so as not to break the calm of the morning.

"Mm. Sorry, I...I had this awful...this nightmare, and...if I went to Dean's bed, he would ask questions I really don't want to answer," Sam confessed, stretching broadly.

"I see. And you think I won't?"

"Yes," Sam answered quietly, now on his back and staring at the ceiling. And then he looked over, past Gabriel, a slow smile curling over his lips. "Surprised you kept the flowers," he said.

Gabriel blinked a couple of times. Ah, yes, the violets. He fought back a blush and shrugged. "Far be it from me to throw out something from a secret admirer," he quipped, before wincing. Open mouth, insert foot. He still wasn't sure what to make of his supposed attraction to Sam.

But then Sam's gaze met his, and crap...the kid was attracted to him. Him, really? The kid was tall and all lean muscle! Gabriel was short and just a bit on the pudgy side, here! What on Earth could Sam be seeing??

"Sam...what is this?" he spoke quietly.

A frown twisted Sam's lips, and he looked back at the ceiling again.

"...New. It's new," he said after a couple of minutes.

"Mm," Gabriel murmured.

There was a movement. It seemed small, given the slightness of the jostling of the mattress, but considering that Sam was now above him, it had been a big move.

Gabriel's breath hitched. For a second, he thought he'd panic, but he found that it wasn't panic at all. It was...shit, was he becoming aroused? It'd been so long, the feeling was almost foreign.

Staring up at Sam, shifting to be more comfortable as their gazes locked, he could see something answering in Sam's gaze.

"Do you trust me?" Sam whispered quietly.

The question wormed its way into Gabriel's brain, echoed there, seemed to disperse into his chest, his stomach, his bones. His entire being answered with a resounding ' **Yes**.'

But Gabriel was honestly scared to say that. Terrified of it. How could he trust Sam like this, after barely knowing him for two weeks?? So instead, he answered, "I don't know."

Sam didn't look hurt, or even offended, by the answer. He nodded slowly as if he expected that answer. "Okay. Okay, I can wait."

"Sam..."

"Can I touch you?" he interrupted, eyes coming back up from where they'd gone to Gabriel's chest.

There was a flicker of panic in his chest, but he carefully kept it hidden, nodding instead.

And the touch wasn't what Gabriel was expecting. Was barely even sexual, though definitely intimate. Sam's hand came up and his fingertips softly brushed over Gabriel's lips.

Gabriel wasn't sure how to feel about the touch, really. His lips were still healing, so was Sam inspecting that, or...what exactly?

His playful nature suddenly flickered to life, and he found himself parting his lips and nipping the pad of one of Sam's fingers.

Sam stilled at that, something hot and dark shining in his eyes. "Shit," he breathed softly. And then...then Gabriel was sitting up, because the younger Winchester had not just pulled away, but he'd left the room entirely, all without a sound.

"Shit," Gabriel echoed quietly.


	10. Chapter 10

They didn't discuss it. Gabriel knew they should, but they didn't, neither making an attempt to broach the subject.

When Gabriel had finally come downstairs, nearly half an hour later, there was a shake waiting for him. He stared at it for a moment, confused, before Dean cleared his throat.

It was Sam that spoke up, though. "There's some protein powder and vitamins in that. Along with a decent amount of sugar. Drink it, we're going for a run after," he said simply.

Gabriel groaned. "A run? Exercise? Guys, if you want me dead, just shoot me, don't draw it out," he said, even as he picked up the shake.

Sam smirked, shaking his head, and Dean chuckled.

"Like we told you, Sammy here is going to monitor your intake and help you build muscle. He's better at figuring out the whole nutrition thing. And he's a total exercise addict," Dean spoke with a shrug.

Gabriel nodded as he drank the shake. It made sense.

After finishing the shake and changing into some exercise clothes, Sam walked him through some stretches, and they took off at a slow pace soon after.

About the time that Gabriel was starting to feel a burn in his muscles, Sam spoke up. "Alright, we're looping back," he informed him.

Gabriel looked over with a slight frown. "Shouldn't we go a bit longer?"

Shaking his head, Sam shot him a smile. "No. Overdoing it is just as bad as not doing it at all," he explained. Gabriel accepted the explanation easily, and soon enough, he was dropping onto the sofa, panting softly. Sam, for his part, barely looked winded. He was probably used to a lot more.

It was Dean that took him to the gun range, after Gabriel had showered and changed. Like Sam, he had drilled Gabriel on gun parts and taking the mechanical device apart and putting it together. It was bordering on annoying, but both Winchesters stressed the importance of proper maintenance.

Some shooting later, and then they headed back to the house. Cassie had only had to work half a shift today and was there when they walked in. He and Sam looked up from sitting at the kitchen table when their brothers walked in. Sam was already eating a salad, and he gestured to burgers waiting for them on plates.

Gabriel was surprised to be eating a burger, but he didn't question it. All the same, Sam provided an explanation as he sat down. "Meat, protein, helps build muscle. Burgers are a good delivery system, combining protein and vitamins in the form of vegetables."

Castiel was eating his own burger with gusto. "These make me very happy," he commented.

Sam chuckled and shook his head. "Dean's are better. I can never get the seasoning right," he said.

Cassie, still eating, gave Dean a curious glance. The older Winchester avoided meeting his gaze in apparent embarrassment, shrugging Sam's comment off. "It's close enough," he said, grabbing a beer before sitting to eat.

After lunch, it was Sam that took him into the backyard for some training.

"We're not doing this the way Dean was," Sam said, even as he gestured at a spot for Gabriel to stand. Sam took a spot a couple of feet away, hands in his pockets and mouth set in a grim line. "...I'm going to deliberately try to set off an episode, Gabriel," he began, looking almost sick at the thought. "You've got to adjust to them, learn to fight them off, so you can keep moving, keep fighting."

Gabriel wasn't sure what his expression was showing, but he felt a dull flicker of panic already, twisting his stomach and threatening his lunch. Sam waited for something out of him, though. And after a couple of moments, Gabriel nodded, taking a deep breath. "Alright, kiddo. Do your worst," he said.

Sam flinched slightly at that. And then he squared his shoulders, seeming to slip into some weird sort of headspace. It was startling, and if Gabriel didn't know better, he'd think Sam had never met him.

And then Sam stepped forward. His posture was predatory, and everything in Gabriel said to _run_. It took all he had to stand his ground.

Sam drew up directly in front of him, and reached up. At this, Gabriel felt his panic flare, started to try to pull away, but Sam's hand closed around his throat and that was it.

Sam wasn't there anymore, there was no grass tickling his bare feet and ankles, no sun hanging in the sky above, no sound of birds or cars.

There was a hard jolting of his body, into his body, pain radiating from his anus through to his very core. A pleased, ' _Such a good boy_ ,' above him. A tightness around his throat. He couldn't breathe. _**He couldn't breathe!**_

Except...except he could. He was drawing in breath fine. Reality and memory began separating, and he heard voices that didn't exist here, in this.

Cassie and Dean. Cassie's tone was pissed and he flinched away from the tone, despite knowing his little brother would never do anything to him...certainly nothing like this.

And then Sam's voice, stern and unyielding...but not threatening. A different tone, but...that was the voice that had whispered to him, ' _Shh, you're alright._ '

"S-Sam?" he spoke. His mind was still stuck in the memory, and he couldn't see beyond it yet, but he was fast becoming aware.

There was a soft pressure against his left cheek, and a murmur of Sam's voice, though he couldn't be sure what was being said. Still, it was enough. Everything snapped back into place, leaving him reeling and dizzy. Sam was knelt in front of him, Dean blocking Cassie to his right, keeping him from stepping in.

Gabriel managed to turn before vomiting into the grass.

Someone made a wounded sort of noise at the action, but Gabriel ignored it, swaying slightly as his mind and body threatened to shut down. He felt a crippling exhaustion after that.

"Come on. You need sugar," Sam's voice came softly. The man had moved swiftly, gracefully, and stood up, and was gently pulling and helping Gabriel to his feet.

He could feel that Sam was right about that, in the shakiness of his legs. Sure, some of it was the emotional shock, but he knew his body well enough to recognize low blood sugar by now.

Inside, he was led to the sofa and gently made to sit down. Sam then left his side, and Gabriel fought not to make an embarrassing noise at that. He relaxed when the younger Winchester came back with one of his chocolate bars, already open, and handed it off to him. He gratefully took it and began working on getting the sugary substance into his system. Sure, orange juice-or any juice, really-was a better delivery system. But Gabriel preferred his chocolates.

Cassie and Dean made an appearance by the time he was done eating it. Cassie had calmed, but he still didn't look happy as he took the sofa chair closest to Gabriel. It was then that Gabriel realized that Sam had taken up a seat on the sofa with him and pulled his feet into his lap. He had an arm draped over his shins, but that was it. All the same, Gabriel caught Dean looking over the scene with a raised eyebrow. Thankfully, the older brother said nothing about it. Not that Sam had even noticed his gaze. He was watching Gabriel, seeming to be watching for something.

Gabriel slowly looked over at him, finishing the last bite of the chocolate. He offered a weak smile. "S'alright, kiddo. You told me what we were doing, and I agree with it...agree to it," he said. His eyes found his lap. "It needs to be done," he added quietly.

Cassie let out a growl from nearby. "No, it doesn't. There's a dozen other ways to process this, Gabriel. You could--"

"I could what, Cassie? Go to a therapist or counselor? 'Hey, I'm the Judgement Killer, got caught by one of my marks, was raped and tortured for months, until two other serial killers showed up and saved my ass, and now we're all playing house, but I'm having flashbacks, so could ya help me out here?' ...I'm not the only one that would wind up behind bars if I dared breathe a word of any of it to an outsider, Cassie," Gabriel spoke. He had started out snarky and vehement, but his tone had turned soft at the end.

Cassie made a wounded noise, but he seemed to withdraw from his protests at that. Gabriel looked over at him. "Sorry, little brother...but this is how it has to be done. I'm not going to stay on the sidelines forever, and best I deal with this now, in this way, than wind up dead or worse because of it, at some dick's hands."

Cassie didn't meet his gaze. "I don't like it, Gabriel. But...but I understand. I won't interfere," he said quietly.

Cassie still wasn't very happy with any of them, though. He expressed that with a withdrawn silence, in Gabriel's presence, and an angry glance at the Winchesters any time either dared to address him directly. The rest of the day passed like this between the four of them, until they parted for bed. The Winchesters went early in the evening down to the basement bedrooms, but Gabriel waited until he and Cassie went upstairs to talk to his brother.

"Cassie," he began as his little brother began to enter his own room. Castiel stopped and turned, still unhappy about the earlier situation, but not about to shut Gabriel out. "...I'm still trying to figure things out, but...I promised to tell you. I...I'm attracted to Sam, and...I don't know if it's really him that I'm attracted to, or if it's because..." he started, before frowning, looking at the wall beside his little brother. "It was Sam that came into the room that I was being held in. It was him that spoke to me at first, that released me from my cuffs. Dean's the one that shot Assmodeus and called for an ambulance. They both saved me, but...it was Sam that was there first, and I'm...I can't tell if that's why I feel like this," he confessed.

"...It was him that showed up in the hospital that next day," Cassie supplied. Gabriel's gaze snapped to him, and Cassie shrugged. "I do have a near-eidetic memory, Gabriel. I recognized them both when they knocked on the door. It wasn't until Sam confronted me with my knowledge of what you all do, that I drew the final connections and understood they were the ones to save you, that they were killers, too."

Gabriel flinched inwardly at that word, but he knew Cassie understood they didn't kill just any old random person on the street.

"Gabriel, I can't help you figure out the root of your attraction to Sam. And I know the difference between the two possibilities forms how healthy the potential relationship between you two would be...but from what I know of Sam, he is a good person, and I believe...I believe that you could be happy with him," Cassie spoke slowly.

Something that he didn't know had been coiled tight with concern at his brother's reaction, loosened with those words, with this discussion.

"...I'm sorry, Cassie, but I may need to use you as a sounding board to figure this out. ...Later, of course. I'm exhausted right now, after everything today," Gabriel spoke. Cassie nodded, and wordlessly, they parted, heading to bed.


	11. Chapter 11

The next couple of months were busy, filled with lots of things. Some awesome, some not...some confusing.

Firstly, after Sam had taken over his training, every morning Gabriel woke to a rapidly cooling spot where someone had been in the bed next to him.

Gabriel was pretty sure that someone was not Dean, and Cassie wasn't as quiet as the Winchesters, by far.

Anyway, this was a confusing thing.

Next up on the list was an awesome thing. After three weeks of daily deliberately-triggered episodes, Gabriel watched Sam approaching him. And when his hand reached up to his throat, Gabriel allowed it to make contact before bringing his arm up and knocking Sam's arm to the side, his other fist coming up and hitting Sam squarely in the chest, hard enough to make him stumble back a couple of steps.

The initial expression of surprise had been hilarious. But it had vanished quickly, relief and pride replacing it, and Gabriel had been rewarded with a beautiful smile.

A not-so awesome thing? Walking in on Dean and Cassie.

Sam and Gabriel had gone grocery shopping one weekend morning, and when they came back, Dean had had three fingers up his little brother's ass, in the living room on the couch.

Gabriel had definitely not let out a squawking sound and slammed the door shut. Fortunately for Sam, he'd still been pulling bags from the back of the car and hadn't had to have that image seared into his brain.

Gabriel had also learned more about how Sam and Dean operated. When they were actively working a scene, they avoided using names. If they had to at all, it was a code name. Dean was Righteous. Sam was Soulful. Charlie, if called or referenced, was named Celeste.

He learned that, when the brothers were away (which hadn't been often during this time), they referred to him as Judgement. Apt, given his media moniker. And Cassie, they called Seraph.

It made something warm bloom in his chest, knowing that they'd bothered to think of that...that they were including him and Cassie, even if they weren't there.

Sam and Gabriel went running every morning, further and further each day, picking up the pace more and more as time passed as well.

Dean took over the weapons aspect of his training, since Sam was taking care of all of the physical training.

And at the end of the two months, Gabriel felt ready. Nervous about getting back into it, but ready all the same.

And so it was, before the Winchesters could head over to the next state to take care of what was almost certainly a human trafficking ring, Gabriel piped up. "I'm in, wheel's up in ten?"

Three sets of eyes landed on him. Cassie looked uneasy, uncertain. Dean was looking him over, sizing him up, trying to figure out if he was really ready. Sam, though? Sam didn't have a flicker of doubt in his gaze.

"Wheel's up in ten," the younger Winchester confirmed with a smile.

Gabriel gave a short nod and headed up the stairs, taking two at a time, to quickly pack a duffel and grab his gun; he'd been working with it for about a week now, and while his aim wasn't as good as the Winchesters', he was pretty decent by now.

He came back down to the sight of Sam heading out the door, and Cassie and Dean standing barely inches apart, murmuring softly to one another. Dean leaned forward for a second, then tensed and looked over at Gabriel with a caught-in-headlights expression.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Just kiss him, Ken Doll, and let's get going," he called, heading around them and out the door.

Dean climbed into Baby's driver's seat barely two minutes later, Sam in the passenger seat and Gabriel in the back seat. They were all silent as they headed out.

A few hours later, they stopped for gas and bathroom breaks...along with a few snacks and drinks. When they climbed back into the car, Sam checked his phone. "We're about an hour out," he announced.

Dean grunted an acknowledgement. "Call Charlie in twenty so we can get briefed on what to expect," he responded. Sam gave a short nod in response.

"Sam, Dean, Gabriel," Charlie spoke in greeting, once the call was connected.

"Hey ya, Red," Dean spoke to Sam's phone, on speaker.

"Alright, so I've pulled everything I can, and...guys, it looks like there's seven of them, but I'm betting on an eighth. I can't find anything concrete there, so...be careful, yeah?"

"Always, Charlie. Did you manage to figure out where they're operating out of?" Sam spoke.

"Mm, yeah. ...It looks like most of them live there, too. Warehouse at 6002 Elm. Satellite shows a building that's beyond disrepair, but that's definitely it," she confirmed.

An hour later had them parking a couple of blocks over. They loaded up with ammo and at least one extra gun, each, from the Impala's false bottomed trunk. Black ski masks covered their faces, nitrile gloves over their hands, and then they were sneaking up on the building in the near-pitch black of an abandoned section of this city. No working street lights...just moonlight to guide them.

It went well, Gabriel believed. Sam and Dean would disagree, given that Gabriel had a large blade sticking out his thigh, dangerously close to the artery there, but Gabriel had managed to take down three of the assholes all on his own.

And Celeste had been right, there had been an eighth.

Limping due to the blade in his leg, Gabriel went to the closest wall, once they all had called out, "Clear!"

"Judgement?" Soulful's voice came from behind him.

Gabriel didn't respond as he tucked his gun away and drew a king-size sharpie from his pocket.

"What are you doing, dude?" Righteous hissed out. He could practically feel the Winchesters still behind him as he scrawled on the wall.

"Traffickers," he wrote.

The blade was left in his leg, as precaution, and they started the drive back. They were all silent. Sam wasn't happy, and Dean was pissed.

They stopped for gas, Gabriel remaining in the car to keep anyone from seeing his obvious injury.

Not one of them spoke until they hit their home city.

The second they passed the welcoming sign, Dean spoke.

"The fuck were you thinking?" he snapped.

"I was thinking that police, that society, needed to know what they'd done," Gabriel said simply, keeping his tone light and easy despite Dean's dark and angry voice.

Dean's grip on the steering wheel tightened.

"You tied us together, Gabriel. I know that's part of your MO from before, but not only did you just tip off the FBI that you're back, you showed your hand to them. You've shown that your methods have changed, and that you have partners. All three of us are on their radar now," Sam spoke. His tone wasn't heavy or dark like Dean's, but it was plain he wasn't happy with the situation.

Gabriel considered this. In truth, he knew what he'd been doing, but honestly? He hadn't considered how the Winchesters would feel about it.

"Mm. ...Look, guys, I'm sorry. I am. But if the media shows that there's more than one of us now, it just might make all those assholes think twice. I know that's a stretch, but...that's why I did it. I didn't really think about it much beyond that," Gabriel admitted.

Sam nodded in front of him, and Dean took a moment before he shook his head with a huff.

"I get it, man, but you should've warned us. Sam, call Charlie...let her know we're alive and what's going on. I doubt she'll be able to cover much of our tracks after this, but it's best she do what she can," Dean said.

Sam did just that, and by the time they pulled into Cassie's driveway, he was hanging up the call. Charlie, for her part, had sounded like she'd been expecting it, and Gabriel was happy she hadn't been pissed with him. He liked the woman, despite having not yet met in person, and he didn't want to do irreparable damage to that friendship.

Sam and Dean helped him into the house. Cassie had stood as they entered, and when he noticed Gabriel's limp, his eyes quickly found the cause.

"Table," he growled, clearly unhappy one of them had been injured.

His little brother vanished up the stairs, and Gabriel limped to the dining room table. Sam cleared the fruit bowl from it, and Gabriel hopped up on it, sitting with his legs sprawled across the expanse, arms behind him with palms flat against the table to keep him propped up, but also give Cassie space to work.

When his brother reappeared, he had a bag with him. He cut away the pants, observing the wound. Gabriel tilted his head. It hurt like a bitch, now, and he knew that was going to get worse before it got better, but at the moment, he could only notice that he hadn't bled yet. Not that he'd thought he had, but he'd been expecting at least a slow leak or something.

That changed when Cassie suddenly pulled the blade free. Gabriel yelped, tensing, and staring as blood quickly welled from the wound. There was a needle pressed in, apparently with some anesthetic to dull the pain, and Cassie poked around the wound.

"...You'll need stitches, but this is injury is not severe," he commented, a small amount of relief in his tone.

Sam and Dean stood some feet away, watching with some sort of detachment as Cassie staunched the bleeding and sewed up the wound.

Dean and Cassie went to bed after everything was cleaned up. Gabriel stared after them for a moment before heading up as well.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when, once in his room, he turned to see Sam standing a few feet away with an uncertain air about him.

"...Samshine?" Gabriel questioned quietly.

Sam's eyes met his, and then there was a determination there. He silently shut the door behind him and moved forward, gently maneuvering and pushing Gabriel back onto the bed, before climbing over him. Their bodies barely touched as Sam held himself above Gabriel.

For his part, Gabriel could only stare up, confused and more than a little surprised. Whatever it was between them, Sam had carefully been keeping it at arm's length. And now he was looking down at Gabriel with a faint desperation in his eyes, and some sort of question there.

Not having a real clue what Sam wanted, Gabriel gave a short nod, anyway. Tension left the younger man's shoulders, and he moved down.

Gabriel didn't move, now staring at the ceiling. He felt Sam's hands on his injured leg, and then a faint sensation, blocked by the anesthetic Cassie had used. That had Gabriel raising up on his elbows to see what Sam was doing.

Sam's eyes met his, his lips pressed softly to the stitches on his thigh.

Gabriel's breath gave a small hitch. Sam was...he was worried. Gabriel searched his eyes and saw it there. He hadn't been happy with Gabriel, on the drive back...but he'd also been worried over him, over his wound.

Sam's eyes fluttered shut, shutting off anything else Gabriel might see, and his lips moved, oh-so-carefully, over the stitches, in soft kisses.

Gabriel didn't know if anyone had ever cared this much about him in his life. Sure, Cassie cared, but that was hardly the same as this.

And fuck, he was trying to tamp it down, but he was becoming aroused under these careful ministration, his blood flowing steadily into his cock and beginning to fill it. He breathed out shakily, uncertain what to do, what to say, if anything.

But Sam, eyes still closed, was starting to kiss his skin up higher, up above the stitches. When he got to a certain point, he pulled from his thigh and opened his eyes, breath puffing over Gabriel's tented boxer briefs, eyes silently asking permission.

Gabriel wasn't sure what to think...wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but gods above, he _wanted_. There was heat pooled low in his stomach, and he...he trusted Sam. Trusted that Sam wasn't going to do anything near what had been done to him.

It took a long stretched moment, but he found himself giving a nod.

Sam's lips came down to his still-covered cock, an open mouthed kiss pressing against the now-straining erection. Gabriel's breath hitched and his head sagged backward as he released a low groan into the room.

Sam didn't pull the offending fabric away, made no move to, but instead kept his mouth on Gabriel's cock, mouth working over it. Kissing up and down, pressing his tongue to the underside and dragging it up...gods, it was not enough, but too much all at once.

Gabriel was panting, moaning, and letting out pleading whispers. Finally, it was all too much, the building heat drawing up his balls, and, "Sam, Sam, Sam...Sam!" he cried out as his release spilled from him, dampening his boxer briefs.

He dropped to the bed like a marionette with its strings cut, panting.

Sam appeared as his side after a few scant seconds, pulling him into his embrace. Gabriel blinked, feeling...feeling Sam. Sam was hard against his uninjured thigh. Gabriel twisted slightly, letting out a murmur as he started to reach, but Sam gently grabbed his wrist, shaking his head. "I'm fine," he whispered, before pressing a soft kiss to Gabriel's forehead. "Rest."

At that simple word, exhaustion swept through him, and between one beat and the next, he was curled against Sam's chest, falling into sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

Morning came with a slow, sated slip into consciousness. Gabriel felt so warm, so comfortable. He opened his eyes to spot Sam's chest, covered in a white undershirt, before him. He murmured sleepily low in his throat, moving to nuzzle closer, when he frowned at an uncomfortable situation.

Oh, yeah...he'd fallen sleep in cum-soaked boxers. He looked down at them, frowning as if they'd personally offended him. He heard an amused breath, and looked up at Sam. The other's eyes were open, his lips twisted in a self-satisfied smile...but his eyes were warm, even though amused.

"Come on...let's go get a shower," the younger man spoke.

Gabriel couldn't help but bounce his eyebrows a bit at that. "Sexy shower?" he questioned.

There was a flicker of heat in Sam's eyes, but he didn't answer immediately, considering it. Finally, he gave a slow nod and leaned down to Gabriel's ear. "I want you to fuck me into the wall, Gabe," he whispered.

And _oh_. Oh, Gabriel's dick was immediately on board with that.

In all honesty, he wanted to feel Sam in him, but he'd always been a switch hitter, anyway. And the thought of bending the taller man over, of opening him up and taking hard and fast...he nearly whimpered at the mental image.

Instead, he nodded, moving to get up. Sam easily let him go, climbing from the bed also, and they both peeked out the door. No sound, no movement...they snuck to the bathroom a scant distance down the hall.

Once in the bathroom with the door closed, he found himself crowded against the bathroom sink. He looked up at Sam, only for their lips to meet. It was like lightning moving though him, and he pressed up and forward, tongue swiping and begging entry. Sam easily granted it, and despite morning breath, they were both groaning at the taste of one another.

They broke suddenly, each immediately pulling off their own shirts. Sam was panting, pupils blown wide as he looked him over. It took all of Gabriel's self-control not to draw him into another bruising kiss.

Instead, he turned away, focusing on the shower. He got the water on and adjusted, then turned it to stream through the shower head.

By the time he switched it over, there were hands on his hips and a nipping kiss placed on the back of his neck.

Gabriel turned to Sam, kissing him deeply once again, feeling his giant push down the last barrier of fabric between them. Their lips parted slowly and they stared at one another before slowly looking over one another's bodies.

Sam was more gorgeous than Gabriel could've imagined. It made his dick twitch in the air between them. The simple action brought Sam's hand up to wrap around it.

"Fuck, Sam," Gabriel breathed as the hand drew up over the flesh slowly.

"Definitely, and soon. Need this in me, Gabe...need to feel you splitting me open," Sam spoke, nuzzling against Gabriel's forehead.

"Get in the shower, Sam," Gabriel growled. He was going to use a combination of water and conditioner to open the younger man up, and then he was going to fuck him senseless.

Sam practically scrambled to comply, and Gabriel stepped in behind him. He maneuvered Sam to face the wall and bend forward, bracing his hands against it, before he grabbed his conditioner and set to work.

"So tight, baby," He murmured against Sam's back, as he breached Sam's pucker a few moments later, slowly pressing in one finger. Sam was quiet, saving soft murmurs showing that he was alright with the intrusion.

Once he'd worked up to two fingers, Gabriel began searching out the gland, alighted with nerves, that he knew would make this pleasurable for his lover.

He found it after a long moment, and rubbed it gently before crooking his fingers.

Sam let out an almost wounded sort of noise, his whole being giving a shuddering twitch.

"Gabe...gods, Gabe, more, please, please, please," he pleaded, voice barely loud enough to be heard.

"I've got you," Gabriel assured softly, kissing above Sam's tailbone. He worked his fingers, scissoring a bit, crooking them against Sam's prostate every few moments, until he could work in a third finger. By this time, Sam was whimpering loudly, almost sounding broken.

Another motion against the gland and Sam let out a long whine. "Now? Gabriel, please, I'm open, please," the Winchester begged.

Gabriel wordlessly complied, kissing Sam's back as the younger whimpered from the loss of his fingers. Kissing again as he started to replace them with his cock.

He pressed slowly, listening to Sam's wanton pants. When he finally was pressed in fully, they both groaned, voices a symphony against the backdrop of the water cascading over them. He waited a long few beats, giving Sam's body time to adjust to his thick length.

And then he started moving. The first couple of withdraws and thrusts were slow, but he took the hint when Sam slammed back with the third thrust. Growling, he gripped Sam's hips tight and started thrusting fast and hard, Sam letting out a yelp before starting a litany of, "Yes, faster, please, yes, so good!"

The slap of wet skin on wet skin was obscene, filling the bathroom, drowning out all sounds of the shower as Gabriel pounded Sam's ass. They were hardly being careful, feet slipping, but neither of them could seem to care as they chased an orgasmic high together. Gabriel's right hand moved around Sam's waist, gripping his cock and making him punch out a sob. He stroked in furious time with his thrusts, and seconds before he could cum, Sam's head tilted back, a howling cry ripping from him as his release spilled over Gabriel's hand.

Gabriel had already been close, but the spasming of Sam's channel around had him letting out a cry of his own as he thrusted deep into the younger Winchester, flooding him with his cum. He made a couple of aborted thrusts beyond that, milking his cock inside of Sam, before he slowly started pulling his spent member from the other man. Sam let out a whimper as he came free and Gabriel started to smile...but then halted at the sight of red on white. Blood under their feet. The blissful haze was cut in two and his eyes shot back up to Sam's body, carefully inspecting. "Sam?" he spoke as he tried to make sure his lover was alright.

"Mmph...?" Sam let out, still braced against the wall and seemingly blissful.

Gabriel frowned. There was no blood around Sam's rectum. So where...oh. Oops.

Sam seemed to be coming around and turned, a slightly dazed smile on his lips...until he saw the blood. In an instant, his eyes were searching out the source, and they landed where Gabriel's eyes had stilled. The stitches in his thigh. Gabriel looked up at Sam.

"...I didn't even feel it," he spoke quietly. He still didn't, really. The numbing medicine Cassie had used would've worn off by now...so maybe it was because of endorphins? He didn't know.

Sam nodded slowly, then sighed and moved Gabriel, pushing him under the spray to start getting them both cleaned up.

Ten minutes later, they were both clean. It'd only taken so long because Gabriel had had to help Sam clean his channel. Gabriel knew he was clean, because he'd made sure to get tested after he'd been freed. He was sure Sam would've said something, too, if he hadn't been tested recently. All the same, after having to help Sam clean up, Gabriel was thinking that perhaps it'd be best to use condoms in the future to avoid such a mess. He'd have to discuss it with Sam.

They climbed from the shower and Gabriel handed towels from the closet in the bathroom to Sam. Sam took one, wrapped it around his waist, then took another and wrapped it tightly around Gabriel's thigh. It wasn't bleeding badly at this point, but he had popped a stitch and there was a trickle of blood streaming from it slowly.

Wrapping a third towel around his own waist, Gabriel led the way to his bedroom. They were both quiet as they dressed; Sam in his clothes from yesterday (since the rest of his belongings were in a basement bedroom still), and Gabriel in boxer briefs and a shirt, carefully keeping the towel around his thigh in place.

They made their way downstairs, with not a word between them. It wasn't uncomfortable, though...and it'd been punctuated with a soft brush of touch or two. Soon enough, though, they were entering the kitchen. Cassie was off today, and standing by the coffee maker, making himself a mug. Dean, however, raised his eyebrows at Gabriel's state of dress, especially given the towel. "The fuck?" he spoke, ever-eloquent.

It drew Cassie's attention, and the surgeon was quick to spot the bloodying towel.

Gabriel gave a sheepish smile. "Uh, sorry, Cassie...I popped a stitch," he commented as Sam moved around him to sit down at the table...gingerly.

Dean's eyes shot to Sam the second he saw his brother not sitting in a normal manner, eyes scanning him for injury automatically.

Sam met his brother's gaze solidly. Stubbornly. Practically defiant.

A light bulb went off and Dean opened and closed his mouth a few times, looking back and forth between Sam and Gabriel, even as Cassie maneuvered his big brother to sit so he could repair his work.

Finally, Dean clicked his mouth shut, a huff blowing through his nose before he took a deep drink of his own coffee. At that, Sam relaxed into his chair with barely a wince.

Sam and Gabriel were in the backyard sparring, when Dean opened the sliding glass door. "Inside!" he called out. Sam easily dodged the punch from Gabriel that was already headed his way, then took a step back with a frown. Dean had already disappeared from the doorway, though, and Sam looked at Gabriel, gesturing with a shrug for them to head in.

"What's up?" Sam asked as they reached the living room.

"Henrickson's back on you guys, and Gabriel too, now," Charlie's voice came. Not from a phone, but from the petite red head sitting on the other side of Dean.

Gabriel's eyebrows shot up. He had not a clue who Henrickson was. No, he was surprised that the hacker was actually there.

"Hey doll, nice to meet you in the flesh!" Gabriel greeted with a grin, moving over and reaching out to shake her hand. She had jumped up as he approached, and brushed away his hand, pulling him into a hug instead.

"And you!" she returned as they broke the hug and she slapped his upper arm. She then shifted to the other foot, looking between all of them.

"I erased any footage within minutes of it being recorded, when you guys were out and about, but Vic's always been a good profiler. He knows there's three of you, and suspects you two of training Judgement here. He thinks that's why he went quiet for so long," she supplied.

Gabriel stepped back, moving toward the loveseat. Sam was already seated on it, and when Gabriel sat, he gently drew the smaller man's legs up to drape across his lap. Gabriel shifted easily.

Charlie's eyebrows went up, her lips quirking into a grin, but she said nothing.

"So how close is he to us?" Dean spoke, seated thigh-to-thigh with Cassie.

"Physically? As far as I can get him. He thinks you're working the Eastern coast somewhere. But his profile is pretty spot on. Some of it he probably recalled from when he was on your trail before I wiped you out of the database. Knows you're related, likely brothers. Suspects you were trained for this, because you guys are too clean and methodical. But now you're partnered with a third, someone who's established and not as quiet. It's throwing him a little bit, but not enough. He recognized Judgement for who he was because of the sharpie on the wall. He wasn't working the Judgement Killer's case before, but he definitely is now. I'm not sure how he did it, but he pulled the case files on Judgement from another team and assembled his own for the three of you," Charlie spoke, winding up back in her seat during her spiel.

Cassie had a tight frown on his lips. "How much of a risk is there to their identity, their safety?" he questioned.

Charlie shrugged. "Same as ever, really. It helps that Gabriel's taken to following Dean and Sam's MO, but he still knows there's three of them now. ...In short, if they stick to the usual methods, they should be fine, really. I mean, it's not like Vic's going to get desperate enough to leave innocent bodies around to try and draw them in. ...Guys, he wants to catch you. He does. Thinks you shouldn't be above the law, shouldn't be killing, even if he gets that it's getting baddies off the street. I know Vic, he was my lead field agent, back when I was still working FBI. I've read his current profile, and I can sense what he feels...he's not entirely happy about having to catch you guys, but he's determined to do it anyway, because it's what he sees as right."

Silence reigned for a long few moments, each of the people in the living room lost in their own introspective thoughts.

It was Gabriel that came out of it first. "Thanks, Charles. Keep us informed on his movements? We want to stay a step ahead and all. ...How long you around for? There's uh...well, at least one empty bedroom in the basement. ...Maybe two?" he spoke, eyes slowly moving to Sam's.

Sam smiled warmly, a hand gently squeezing one of Gabriel's ankles. "Yeah, two," he answered quietly.

"Oh my gods, you are all disgustingly cute," Charlie chirped.

"You're...cute," Dean snarked weakly, having apparently taken Cassie's hand during all the talking.

Sam just chuckled, looking over them all. His expression was happy, and full of love. ...Gabriel wanted to keep that look on his face...or at least the feelings in his heart, forever.


	13. Chapter 13

Charlie wound up staying for a few days.

That first evening, Sam went down stairs and came back up with his duffel of clothes. Neither brother had much in the way of possessions, but that was fine. That could change, and Gabriel would make sure it would, in time. He'd get Cassie on board with that, too.

Seeing Sam willingly move into Gabriel's room had Dean looking at Cassie uncertainly. "Is...I mean, would that--"

Cassie cut him off, moving into his space and growling something into Dean's ear. Dean had flushed red, and Gabriel looked away, trying not to gag at the pure lust on the older Winchester's face, before Dean _moved_. He practically shot down the stairs, and was back up with his own duffel in moments.

Even moving that quickly, he'd been completely silent. Cassie didn't seem bothered by it, but Gabriel couldn't help but be amazed. True, he was getting better to conceal his presence, under the other brothers' tutelage. But he definitely didn't have a lifetime of experience behind it that they did.

After Dean headed upstairs (followed very closely by Castiel), Gabriel paused. He looked over at Charlie. "Come on, then, Red, and we'll get you a change of sheets. Cassie and I'll clean up the rooms in the morning, so you just need to toss any dirty sheets in a corner, okay?" he told her.

Smiling, Charlie nodded. "Sounds good!" she chirped. Gabriel led her upstairs to the linens closet, and picked out some sheets for her. Most of the sets were pure white, bought by Cassie. But there were some other sets, too, and Gabriel passed her a comfortable burgundy blanket and a set of navy blue sheets.

"Careful heading down, Charles. We'll see you in the morning," he spoke, warmth in his tone. This was practically Sam and Dean's little sister. She was family, in her own right.

"Thanks Gabby. Night!" the hacker had responded.

Gabby...he hadn't been called that in **_years_**. He wasn't stupid, he was sure Charlie knew every last detail about him, after he'd revealed himself to the Winchesters. She probably even knew that his older brothers had called him that. But it wasn't said to hurt him. And...it didn't hurt, really. Just poked an old wound, a soft sore feeling flooding him with it. But at the same time, there was a protective warmth that surged with it. He wasn't sure how to analyze that, but to accept it as feeling like Charlie was family.

A split second before the arms snaked around him, he became aware of the presence. He almost stiffened, but he recognized the warmth at his back. He leaned back heavily into Sam as the younger man's arms folded around his chest. The crown of his head was nuzzled softly. "Bed?" Sam murmured against it.

"Bed. Let's go, Samshine," Gabriel spoke in agreement. There was a kiss to the top of his head, before Sam let go of him, taking his hand and leading the way to their room.

They both wound up stripping down to boxers, and Gabriel hissed a bit as he climbed into the bed. The stitches were agitated at the day's activities.

At the sound, Sam had pulled Gabriel back and laid him out, eyeing the wound carefully. "...It's inflamed. I'm going to put some Neosporin on it. The stuff I have has lidocaine in it, so it'll help with the pain, too," he announced, before moving away.

Gabriel turned his head slightly, watching Sam dig out a small tube and come back. He then propped up on his elbows, watching as Sam applied the cool gel as gently as he could manage. Sam set the tube on the nightstand, next to Gabriel's violets, then blinked as he caught Gabriel's gaze. He tilted his head, and damned if he didn't look like a puppy, with that floppy hair of his.

Gabriel chuckled, then gestured with his head to the empty space beside himself. Sam nodded and moved swiftly over him, settling into the space easily. He opened his mouth to say something, but Gabriel cut him off with a heated kiss.

He broke it after a long few moments, leaving them both panting. Sam's eyes were blown wide with a clear surge of lust, and a little curiosity. Good.

Gabriel leaned in again, carefully maneuvering himself up and above Sam, and started kissing along his jaw. "Y'know...wasn't sure what to make of my feelings for you," he murmured between kisses. Sam's hands, one on Gabriel's bicep, the other in his hair, stilled for a second, before continuing to grip and stroke over him. Sam was carefully dividing his attention between Gabriel's words and his ministrations.

Gabriel moved the kisses, adding just a hint of teeth, to Sam's neck. "Wasn't sure if I liked you, or if I liked the person that saved me. There's some sort of syndrome name for it, but--"

"There's lots of different classifications. I was worried about that, too," Sam confessed breathily.

Gabriel paused, lips against Sam's neck, and he smiled. Of course Sam had been worried about it. He nipped Sam's skin again, getting a beautiful hitch of breath for it.

"But that's not it. Yeah, you saved me, and for that reason, you're the one best at bringing me back from my panic episodes, but--" he was on to Sam's chest now, and he bit down softly on one of the buds there.

Sam gasped, a strangled sound echoing in the room. Rolling it between his teeth, Sam followed his cry with a low moan. Gabriel reluctantly let it go, even though he wanted more of those beautiful sounds. "But that's the extent of it. I like you because of you, Sammich. The way you smile and light up a room with it, your sense of humor, your sense of justice, your complete drive to end the suffering of others," he was at Sam's stomach now, and he wasn't sure if Sam was still hearing him. The younger man was panting harshly, and when Gabriel nipped right above his navel, Sam whimpered loudly.

Gabriel fell silent then, for the few seconds it took him to bring Sam's briefs down below his balls, allowing his straining erection free.

There hadn't been a whisper of movement, but Gabriel still wasn't surprised when he looked back up the expanse of Sam to see that Sam had propped up on his elbows, obviously wanting to watch what Gabriel did next.

Keeping their eyes locked, Gabriel leaned down and kissed the tip of Sam's cock, before flicking his tongue over it. Sam breathed shakily, his chest heaving as he continued to just watch.

"Everything you've experienced in your life, the culmination of who you are...I want it all, Sam. I want you. I want...I want us," Gabriel said, hard put not to look away at the confession.

His reward was the most beautiful smile he'd seen out of Sam yet. "Yes, Gabriel. I want that, too," he spoke quietly. Gabriel smiled.

And then he swallowed Sam down to the hilt. A loud "FUCK!" rent the air as Gabriel focused on his throat muscles, forcing them into compliance, before swallowing around the cock that was penetrating his throat.

There was an aborted thrust, a movement of Sam's hips, along with the sound of a broken sob above him. And then Sam was chanting Gabriel's name, fingers threading into his hair and gripping, but not pulling in any way.

Gabriel hummed gently, and another curse, not as loud, split the air. And then Gabriel started to move, bobbing his head on Sam's impressive length as he brought a hand up, gently rolling the balls in his hand. He brought his eyes back up, and Sam...Sam looked absolutely wrecked. He was doing all he could to keep watching, but his eyes were rolling, his head trying to tilt back.

The chant of Gabriel's name suddenly turn to, "Please, please, please," and Gabriel felt Sam's balls starting to draw up. Smirking around Sam's cock, he forced his throat all the way back down again. It was enough, and Sam was yelling out as he came hard down Gabriel's throat. The older man swallowed every last bit, milking Sam's cock until he was whining with sensitivity, and then he came off of it with a soft 'pop.'

Sam had dropped to the bed, but he was reaching a hand blindly to Gabriel. Gabriel moved up the bed after tucking Sam back into his underwear. The second he was in Sam's sight, the taller was pulling him down into a bruising kiss, licking his way into Gabriel's mouth. Gabriel easily granted him access, and their tongues fought, teeth clashing a bit in their haste.

And then Gabriel was on his back. He blinked at the sudden position change, but didn't protest. Not with the hungry way Sam was looking at him, and his own cock pulsing in need after all of Sam's beautiful sounds.

"Not gonna last long, Samshine," he warned softly, even before Sam reached for his throbbing dick.

"Good," Sam all but purred above him. And then he was out of Gabriel's sight.

Good gods, what that kid could do with his tongue! Swirling it along Gabriel's shaft, pressing it unbelievably hard to the vein on the underside...Gabriel was trembling in seconds. And then that hot mouth was around him, sucking him down...he tried to get out a warning, he really did, but all he could do was bow his back as he came down Sam's throat with a loud cry.

He lost some awareness for a few minutes after that, but when it came back, Sam was on his side beside him, fingers brushing over Gabriel's stomach softly.

"So..." Gabriel began, waiting for Sam's eyes to meet his before he continued. "Boyfriends?"

Sam grinned, broad and happy. "Boyfriends," he agreed.

Charlie left a few days later, after Cassie's special blueberry pancakes, and went back to wherever she hid out. Gabriel wasn't going to ask, but he was certain she was safe. She was smart, after all.

Life went on. Training and training, until Sam and Dean declared that he could ease into a regular upkeep regimen.

Cassie worked, but was considering quitting. He had enough money in savings, especially after some good calls with the stock market, that he didn't really need to work.

Gabriel didn't bother with returning to his old job. He had residual money from the policies he'd sold over the years coming in, and he'd had some luck with the stock market, too.

Not to mention, Charlie skimmed money off drug cartels and funneled it into a safe off-shore account for all of them to use.

Sam, Dean, and Gabriel kept up with their day job, too. Probably a little too well. The media was talking about them more and more. But they were ever-careful.

But everyone has slip ups.

It was near to a year later, when Sam went ahead for reconnaissance on a mark. That wasn't unusual, and they all took turns doing it.

What was unusual was when they hadn't heard from him three hours later. As soon as the third hour mark had hit, Dean was up and starting to gather up his weapons. "We're going," he spoke gruffly. Gabriel said nothing, merely following suit.

Righteous didn't bother with parking blocks away as he usually would. He parked right out front of the house and was leading the way in, barely stopping to put on mask and gloves. Gabriel scrambled to keep up, but worry had him not protesting a single bit of the older brother's irrationality. Hell, he was in a similar state.

They found the mark in the kitchen, humming. When he turned, it was Righteous that put the three bullets in him. He was shouting out a loud, "CLEAR," before the body even hit the floor.

There was a stretch of silence that had Gabriel's stomach twisting with dread, before a soft, "Injury sustained," answered the call.

Gabriel was faster than Righteous this time, shooting off into the house. He barged into a back room and nearly drew up short. Soulful was in a chair, duct tape wound around him several times. His mask was off, his head hanging forward and raising slowly to look at Gabriel. Gabriel started forward quickly. "Judgement," Soulful whispered in relief.

"Shh, baby, Seraph'll patch you up. It's going to be alright," Gabriel murmured back, tucking away his gun and pulling out a switch blade.

Righteous was seconds behind him, starting to cut the tape on the other side of his little brother.

Soulful was out of it, and Righteous took over carrying him out of the house and to the car. He stretched him out over the back seat and Gabriel caught the door before Righteous could close it, climbing in and maneuvering so that Soulful's head was in his lap. Righteous said nothing, instead closing the car door behind them carefully.

Seconds later, they were peeling out of the neighborhood.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO THE UPDATED TAGS.
> 
> I don't want anyone getting sick reading this. I wasn't exactly without a few ill moments myself, but this story is writing itself, and I'm not altering it.

Sam stared up at Gabriel while his boyfriend combed his fingers through his hair soothingly. "It's alright, Samshine. We'll get you home. Cassie'll fix it," Gabriel whispered above him.

Sam said nothing, just watched Gabriel for several long moments before letting his eyes flutter shut.

Dean had been quiet this whole time, just driving like mad. It wasn't until they'd been on the interstate for half an hour that the older Winchester glanced back at Gabriel through the rear view mirror. "See if you can find out where all he's wounded," he ordered.

"His stomach and arm," Gabriel answered almost immediately. He'd already looked Sam over, and there was a long, deep gash on his left bicep, along with a sizeable stomach wound, easily seen through the cut in his shirt.

A ringing sounded through the car shortly following the words.

"Sup!" Charlie's voice chirped.

Dean paused, seemingly have made the call before he thought what to say. So Gabriel piped up. "Hey Charles. Need you to contact Cassie for us, let him know we're driving through the night. We'll be in right after dawn, I think. Sam's hurt. It...I don't think it's immediately life-threatening, but he definitely needs medical care," he spoke.

There was a concerned noise from the phone. "Yeah, on it. ...Guys, did you stick to the usual MO? I need to know," she responded.

"No," Dean cut in gruffly. "We shot the bastard, yeah, but as soon as Sam said he was injured, we cut bait and ran. No hint of the mark's crime was left behind," he said, glancing back at Gabriel.

Gabriel blinked. Oh.... His eyes went back down to Sam, and he dismissed the slip. Sam was more important. Gabriel couldn't care if they figured out that Arthur Ketch was a high profile serial killer.

There was silence for a long few moments, before, "Dean, take me off speaker."

Gabriel was curious in a vague corner of his mind, but dismissed it, instead focusing on Sam.

"Yeah?" Dean spoke, phone now to his ear. Gabriel didn't bother looking up or trying to listen in. And Dean wasn't saying much anyway. After several long moments, there was a quiet, "Tell Cas." Then silence, the call apparently over.

Gabriel couldn't help but feel a little guilty at not having offered to drive at all. But Dean probably would've refused anyway. Maybe. He didn't know, didn't really care. He was too busy keeping an eye on Sam's breathing, but thankfully it'd remained deep and even the whole drive.

Once they were parked in Cassie's drive, Gabriel helped to carefully maneuver Sam out, allowing Dean to carry him in. Cassie opened the door as they approached and wordlessly led the way to the dining room table. There was equipment that Gabriel had no clue Cassie had had stored in the house, all of it set up and ready for Sam.

Dean set him down on the table carefully, and Cassie started moving, attaching things to Sam. As he did so, he spoke. "Dean, take Gabriel out of here."

"Fuck that, Cassie!" Gabriel snapped, bristling. Dean approached anyway, but halted when Gabriel's eyes snapped to him.

"Cas...maybe-" Dean started, but Cassie interrupted.

"Do you think Sam wants this exposed right now?" the surgeon intoned.

Dean paled a bit, looking more than a little sick.

There was something he didn't know, Gabriel caught on to that much. "Whatever it is, he tells me in his own time. I'm not leaving his side, Cassie, and I hardly will know what I'm looking at anyway," Gabriel snarled lowly.

Castiel let out a low growl of exasperation in his throat, but he didn't say anything further, starting to flush the wounds carefully with a bottle of saline.

Dean looked uncertain, but he was carefully not looking at Sam, like he was afraid of something he'd see.

Gabriel moved to a chair against the wall and sat, staring at Sam's face. Neither of the other men tried to remove him.

Soon, Dean took up another chair, near to Gabriel.

"Charlie--"

"He tells me in his own time," Gabriel growled.

"You're going to want warning, dude. It's bad," Dean spoke. His tone was...slack. Gabriel slowly looked up at him. Dean was staring off at something unseen, still with a sick tinge to his pallor.

His eyes went back to Sam's face. He was still unconscious, but there were strains of pain showing now, moreso than earlier. "Cassie, he needs a sedative," Gabriel alerted. He didn't look away from Sam again. "I can't pretend to know how bad, Deano...but its no one's place but Sam's to tell me, if he even wants to. He's had so much choice taken from him in the past...being brought up this way, what Ruby pushed him into. ...I'll do everything I can not to take choice from him again."

There was a sound of acknowledgement, and they all fell quiet.

Over an hour later, Cassie was having Dean carry Sam up to his and Gabriel's room so Sam could be comfortable. Gabriel followed quickly behind and moved around Dean, pulling covers back so his boyfriend could be settled.

"Bring up a chair for me? You can bring one, too..." Gabriel requested of Dean, absolutely not about to leave Sam's side until he woke. Dean left the room silently and soon returned with a chair for each of the two of them. He handed off one to Gabriel, and the smaller man pushed it as close to the bed as he could without trapping his legs. Dean placed his near the foot of the bed and sat. They said nothing as they kept vigil, other than thanking Cassie when the surgeon brought them food and drink.

It was dark out before Sam started to move, slowly stirring. A groan sounded into the room as his eyelids began to flutter. Gabriel wanted to grab his hand, but he waited for now. "Easy, Samshine. You're home, all patched up," he supplied to his boyfriend gently.

Sam opened his eyes at the sound of Gabriel's voice, and slowly took in the room before he finally turned to Gabriel. "...Mm," he let out quietly. Acknowledgement, it seemed. And then, "Goodnight, Jerk," he spoke in barely a whisper.

Silence reined for a long few moments before Dean let out a huff, standing. "Yeah, yeah...Bitch," he muttered, stalking audibly from the room in a testament to his unhappiness at being dismissed.

After he was gone, Sam spoke again. "Lay beside me?"

"Yeah," Gabriel responded easily and readily, carefully moving into the empty space beside his lover.

He was barely close to being settled before Sam was grabbing at him, pulling him closer. His expression was wounded and frightened. "Gabriel," he whimpered softly, burying his face against the older man's neck.

Gabriel blinked for a second before shrugging off the surprise and instead holding Sam as close as he dared, combing his fingers through his hair. "S'alright, my Samshine. I'm here...not going to go anywhere. I know...I know that he did something," he began. Sam stiffened at that, but Gabriel ran his other hand over Sam's back, trying to soothe him. "Shh. I don't know what, Sammy. But whatever it is, it was done to you, it's not something you asked for, and...and I know all about that. I'm not going to judge you for something that bastard did to you. Okay?"

There was a whimper of acknowledgement as Sam's tense body slowly relaxed back into Gabriel.

And soon, Sam was asleep again. Exhausted from the past almost two days, Gabriel followed after swiftly.

When he woke in the morning, it was to Sam placing open-mouthed kisses against his neck, still hiding against it.

It was almost arousing. Almost...except there was an extra layer of dampness that shouldn't be there. A sniff explained it. Tears.

"Mm. Sammy? Look at me, okay?" Gabriel spoke softly.

Sam stilled, and just when Gabriel thought he wasn't going to do it, when Gabriel was about to dismiss it and just hold him, Sam slowly pulled from his hiding spot.

It took a couple of moments longer for Sam to look up from his chest and meet Gabriel's eyes.

"There you are," Gabriel murmured quietly, bringing a hand up to cup Sam's cheek. Sam blinked slowly at the touch, looking very much like it was the most comforting thing he'd ever felt. Giving a warm smile, Gabriel slowly spoke the next three words, pouring all the truth and emotion into it that he could. "I love you."

Sam went still and blinked a few times, eyes slowly widening. It was the first time either of them had come close to saying such a thing.

"I--"

"Nah-uh, kiddo. No rushing into it. Take your time. ...I just want you to know, so that you know that I'm in this for good," Gabriel cut in.

Sam's breath hitched as tears sprang into his eyes. "He..." he started, breathing hard, bordering on hyperventilating.

"S'okay. Easy. In your own time, okay?"

Sam shook his head vehemently. "He...Gabriel, he..." he started, but then he shut his eyes.

Gabriel almost spoke again, almost made Sam open his eyes, but he drew short of it. Sam needed to hide, in some way, to say this.

And soon he know why.

"He cut open my stomach, and then he...he stuck his cock in the wound," Sam spoke.

How Sam wasn't vomiting from that, from the memory of that, Gabriel didn't know.

Hell, how he himself wasn't running for a bucket or toilet or something, he didn't know.

But a part of his brain overrode the need to expel his stomach contents after a long beat of tense, sickened silence between them.

That part was screaming at him that Sam needed him, and now.

He brought his hands up, taking Sam's face between them gently. "Oh gods, my sweet Samshine," he spoke in a broken whisper.

Slowly, Sam's eyes opened. He was scared, Gabriel could see it. And there was shame behind it, more than a little, and Sam was trying to hide it.

Gabriel grit his teeth. "This wasn't your fault, Sam," he practically growled. "You couldn't have known it'd happen, and I know you didn't ask for it."

Sam was quiet as Gabriel spoke. He shook his head slowly. "I'm supposed to be stronger than that. I'm not supposed to wind up a victim," he said quietly.

"Not a victim. Survivor. That's your words, Dean's words. You didn't call me a victim when you saved me, and I'll be damned if I let you call yourself one, either," Gabriel growled.

Sam let out yet another whimper, but he was accepting the words.

"Sam...we'll work through this, alright? Just like you did with me," Gabriel assured, softening his tone.

It took a moment, but Sam nodded slowly, eyes coming back up to meet Gabriel's. His eyes then moved down to Gabriel's lips. He didn't move, but instead made a quiet questioning sound. Gabriel's lips quirked slightly in understanding. He moved slowly all the same, and pressed a gentle kiss to Sam's lips. It was chaste, neither moving to make it more. When they finally pulled back, Sam had a faint smile on his lips. And it gave Gabriel hope. Sure, he'd told Sam they'd work through this, but that smile made Gabriel feel like they really could, that it'd all end up okay.


	15. Chapter 15

Dean came into the room with coffee for the three of them the next morning, Cassie off at work. He hadn't quit, but still worked part-time, making himself more available to the killers for incidents such as the one the day before.

Dean and Gabriel both helped Sam up into a sitting position, the youngest male hissing as he moved.

"Here, Sammy. Cas left you some of the good stuff for pain," Dean said, holding out a single pill. Sam stared at it for a long moment, debating, then nodded and took it with a swallow of warm coffee. Dean retreated to the end of the bed and pulled out his phone, pressing a couple of buttons.

Gabriel didn't ask, was pretty sure it was Charlie he was calling, and soon enough, he was proven right.

She greeted them, ever-cheerful, though concern was in her tone. "How you feeling, Sam?" she added.

Sam opened his mouth, clipping it shut immediately to stop the first thing he'd been about to say. He looked a little upset with himself, too, so Gabriel was sure it was about what had happened to him. He took Sam's free hand in one of his own to soothe him. Sam glanced at him, then back to the phone laying near the foot of the bed. "Honestly? I'm not great right now, but...I'll be alright. Really. So don't worry, Charlie, alright?"

There was a strained noise from the phone, like the hacker wanted to say something, but she then let out a noise of affirmation. A beat of silence and she got to business.

"Vic caught wind of Ketch. I'm surprised he made the connection so quickly, but he did. His case notes, on his computer...well, he knows one of you were injured. Not only was there blood, but you guys deviated from the new MO. Guys...I don't know, there's something I'm missing, too. I can feel it, but I'm not finding it. It...if I didn't know better, I'd think Vic would know he's being monitored digitally. But I'm careful, I swear, I'm so careful to cover my tracks and--"

"Calm down, Charlie. Even if he did know, he's so far from our identities...just calm down, okay? And worry about yourself, too. It's not just us at risk here," Dean interrupted as the red-head started to ramble.

Gabriel made a noise to show agreement, finally taking a sip of his coffee. His brows went up as he looked at it. For once...it was too sweet. But he supposed Dean was trying to make sure it was sweet enough. He smirked at it, amused, and took a smaller sip before setting it to the side, next to his violets, that were currently going dormant for the year.

Charlie let out a sigh on the other end of the phone. "Yeah. Yeah, I know, but I hate feeling like something's going on and not knowing what."

"Well, it's going to be a while before we can go out anyway. So you've got plenty of time to figure it out before I'm recovered," Sam cut in gently.

Charlie made a strangled noise of affirmation, and there was a long silence from her. An apologetic silence. Sam's posture softened a bit as he sat. "Stop blaming yourself, Charlie. This sort of thing is always a risk in this line of work. You--" Sam began.

But Charlie burst at that, sobs coming through the phone. "No, I know, but...but I didn't find his dark web stuff until after I sent you guys in, and Sam, I am so, so sorry! I didn't...I didn't know, if I had, you...I..."

Sam grimaced, but shook his head. "Enough of that. I'm alive, and I will recover. It's okay, alright? I don't blame you...none of us do. So don't blame yourself. Do you understand?"

There was a soft noise from Charlie, a sniff, and then a quiet, "Okay...."

"Drink yourself some hot chocolate, Red. We'll keep you updated," Gabriel spoke after that.

A noise of affirmation, and, "I love you guys."

All three of them echoed the sentiment before Dean hung up the phone.

Sam was healing quickly, though he still had a ways to go. But he was able to get up and move on his own with little to no pain now.

A few whispered words with Cassie to confirm Sam's healing progress...and Gabriel went to the bathroom, staring into the mirror for several long minutes.

He'd thought about it, more and more over the past year or so, but he was honestly scared. Not of Sam, of course...but of how his own body and mind would respond.

It was with trepidation that he stood in the bathroom, slowly starting to open himself up, to ready his body.

There'd been a few flickers of panic in his chest at the first press of a lubed finger into his body, and he'd stilled, working to fight against them, before continuing.

Thinking of Sam helped, too. Thinking of how he felt for the man, of how much he wanted to show him of those feelings...of how much he trusted him...it helped, and his body began to ease open quickly.

He winced when he finally pulled his fingers away, but he ignored the empty feeling, instead adjusting his briefs and pants. He shut off the bathroom light and headed for the bedroom.

Sam was there, reading something on his tablet. He undoubtedly heard Gabriel enter, but he didn't look up until the door was shut. He'd begun to smile, but something in Gabriel's posture or expression had the expression slipping into concern.

"Everything alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," Gabriel had asked, his voice a little on the quiet side. Too much of the quiet side. He frowned in consternation, shaking his head a bit as he stepped forward. "Yes, Sam. I'm just...a little nervous," he admitted as he crawled up onto the bed.

"Nervous?" Sam asked, obviously wondering what there was to be nervous about in the safety of their shared space. "What--" he began, but he halted as Gabriel grabbed his arm.

The smaller man guided Sam's hand so he could feel Gabriel's lube-covered loose entrance.

Sam's breath hitched, eyes blown wide in surprise and arousal. But he was shaking his head anyway.

"No, Gabe--"

"Need you, Sam," Gabriel whispered, moving so their foreheads were touching. "...And I trust you, kiddo."

Sam was still for a long few seconds, then he leaned forward and kissed him, accepting.

He laid Gabriel onto his back and they rid each other of clothes slowly. Sam was being damn near reverential as he kissed Gabriel's neck, shoulders, and stomach. Gabriel was ashamed to admit that he whimpered more than once under the caring ministrations.

Finally, Sam looked up at him again. This was it. If Gabriel were to back out, it needed to be now.

"Please, Sam," he whispered instead.

Feeling a cock starting to press at his entrance had Gabriel tensing. He knew he needed to relax for this, but he was having an issue following through with that. Sam immediately halted, but Gabriel shook his head, curling upward, one hand on the back of Sam's neck, the other on his uninjured arm. "S'okay, I'm okay," he said, both to Sam and himself.

Sam frowned in worry, but tried again, carefully. As he did, Gabriel took a deep breath in, then let it out, forcing his body into compliance with it.

And Sam was slowly sliding in. Gabriel felt his lips tremble as he held back a whimper. He could do this. He would do this.

And suddenly, as Sam's cock reached a certain depth inside of him, Gabriel gasped softly, his body ceasing its fighting. This time, he did whimper, nuzzling into Sam's cheek. Sam stilled for just a brief second, but then continued at something he read in Gabriel's eyes.

It was good, so good. He'd forgotten this could be good, could feel good. As Sam finally bottomed out, he felt tears in the corners of his eyes.

"Shit, did I hu--"

"So full. Gods, Sammy, you feel so good," Gabriel whimpered in assurance.

Sam relaxed a bit at that, but he didn't break eye contact with Gabriel, not once, as he rolled his hips, testing the waters. Gabriel breathed shakily, smiling and nodding.

As Sam started to move, still so careful, they both began to wear smiles. Sam didn't set a fast pace, but it was good, so good. They barely breathed another word as they moved together, gently chasing an orgasm together.

By the time they were spent, Sam's softening cock buried deep in Gabriel's body, they were both worn through. Not just because of the activity, but because of emotion.

Now they laid, Sam's head on Gabriel's shoulder, Gabriel humming vaguely in post-coital bliss as he stroked fingers through Sam's hair.

They fell asleep like that, bodies still joined.

Things were good. Cassie was happier than Gabriel had ever seen him, wrapped up in Dean. And they were all just so...relaxed. Laughter came easy between them, and silences were comfortable.

Gabriel was smiling as he pulled back into the driveway. Sam was getting better and starting to spar with Dean, Cassie was at work...and Gabriel had gone grocery shopping.

Not seeing the Impala in the driveway wasn't all that unusual, either. Usually, it meant the gun range. At least, this early in the day. Sometimes, Sam and Dean went off to a bar for beer and pool.

But it did mean Gabriel had to haul all the groceries in himself. ...It was fine.

He got out and started to gather up bags from the backseat, when he noticed a black sedan pulling up to the curb in front of the house from his peripheral vision. He let go of the bags, leaning out of the car, and stilled.

Victor Henrikson was getting out of the sedan. Charlie had made sure they all knew what he looked like, just in case.

Gabriel's mind spun. There could be any number of reasons the federal agent was here...any number of reasons the agent would give as a guise, too.

The agent was staring at the house right now, looking it over. He hadn't noticed Gabriel yet, and Gabriel took advantage of this, quickly whipping out his phone.

"Poughkeepsie. Get him out of here," went to Dean.

"I'm sorry," to Cassie.

And then he activated the app to fry his phone that Charlie had had them all install.

When he looked up, Henrikson was approaching him, reaching into his breast pocket. "Excuse me, I'm looking for Ga--"

"Special Agent Victor Henrikson. I'd say it's a pleasure, but it's really not," Gabriel interrupted with a broad smirk. The agents footsteps faltered for a second, caught off guard.

"So...not going to hide anything, hm?" Henrikson spoke, reaching instead for his service piece.

"What's there to hide, Vicky? You're here for a reason, and it's not to follow up on my captivity. We both know that."

"Mm. Where are your partners?"

"Couple of states over. Getting some recon in on a mark," Gabriel lied smoothly. "You're not going to catch them, Vicky. They're way more careful than me."

He stayed still as the agent approached. He was tempted to yell 'Boo' at the caution in the agent's steps, but he withheld.

He was cuffed and in the backseat of the sedan within the space of two minutes.

Gods, but he'd had it good for a little while. All he could hope was for the safety of the small family he'd made.


	16. Chapter 16

Gabriel's brows shot up as they passed the exit for the police station. He looked forward.

"Taking me out to the wilderness, Vicky? Didn't take you for a killer," he quipped, trying to figure out what was going on.

"That's you, Shurley. We're heading straight for Virginia. I'm not risking your little boy band reuniting any time soon," Henrikson replied smoothly.

Gabriel sat back then, relaxing. After a moment, he shrugged. "We'll need to stop in a couple of hours. I'll need to piss by then, and I'll need sugar. Hypoglycemic, my dude. I'll pass out without it," he spoke easily.

"Good, maybe you'll shut up," the agent replied. Gabriel scowled at that.

But then, two hours later, they were pulling into a gas station. When he raised an eyebrow at the agent, he was given a shrug. "Low on gas anyway," the agent had replied.

The gas tank was filled up, then Gabriel was dragged inside and allowed use of the facilities. The attendant eyed him after that, as Gabriel wandered the candy aisle.

"Hurry it up, Shurley," Vicky barked after a minute. Gabriel shot him a frown and picked up a white chocolate Snickers bar.

"This'll work," he said.

The agent took it, then gestured at the cooler. "Don't need you getting dehydrated, either."

Gabriel raised a brow, but picked out a soda and soon they were back in the sedan.

They were both quiet for several miles before Gabriel spoke up. "I'm not going to give them up, Vicky. I owe them more than my life. You might as well shunt me off to prison," he said.

"I don't expect you will give them up...but there's procedure to follow, and I'm not going to pass over it. Besides," he spoke, glancing back at Gabriel through the rearview mirror. "I want to see if they're stupid enough for a rescue attempt," he continued, eyes back on the road as he smirked.

Gabriel tensed. Fuck, were they? He forced himself to settle into the seat, to look uncaring, to look at ease...but inside, he was coiled tight with concern.

They made the exit for Quantico, when Vic suddenly slammed on the brakes on a residential street, cursing as two cars collided in front of them. Gabriel grunted as his seat belt stopped his forward motion.

There was a beat of silence as Vicky took in the scene before them. And then he was getting out of the car, phone raised to his ear.

Gabriel stared as men climbed from the wrecked cars in front of them. Two masked men, both aiming guns at Henrikson. Shit. They were that stupid. How had they even gotten ahead of them?? They'd barely stopped!

He heard Righteous' voice barking out an order and gesturing at the car with the gun he had raised. Soulful kept his gun trained on Vicky, not risking the slightest deviation from the man in front of them.

Vicky was moving around the car and opening the back door.

"You really hypoglycemic, or just buying time?" he questioned as he stepped back to allow Gabriel out.

"Hypoglycemic," Gabriel hissed out as he stood. He frowned up at the agent, then looked over at Righteous and Soulful. "You guys shouldn't have done this," he called out, even as he moved around the door. "I'm burned, my face'll be all over the place...you should be letting me go and keeping hidden," he spoke aloud.

"And what, have Seraph suffer your absence? Fuck that, man," Righteous spoke back.

And then Gabriel was freezing as he felt a barrel at the back of his head. Vic had used him as a shield to draw his own piece.

The brothers tensed across from them. "Weapons down, on the ground, now!" Vicky yelled out.

"Well...Mexican standoff, then?" Gabriel quipped with a smirk. "You're not gonna shoot me, Vicky. And these boys? They only shoot to kill, and they don't kill innocents," he spoke. Despite the masks, he could see Righteous frowning, gun starting to waver as he drew up the best course of action. Soulful was refusing to think the situation through, though...Gabriel could see it in his eyes. "...I'm burned, guys. You gotta let me go," Gabriel reiterated.

Soulful's whole body gave a twitch, before his posture strengthened in clear denial of it. It was Righteous that spoke up, though. "You're family now, man. We can't just--"

"You have to! Go, now!" Gabriel snapped.

Righteous looked at Vic, gun slowly starting to lower. He looked over at his little brother. "Soulful," he spoke.

"NO!" the other snapped loudly, refusing to lower his weapon.

"Soulful, you--" Gabriel started.

"No, dammit!" Soulful yelled out again, this time with a faint lick of desperation in his tone.

Gabriel stilled for a moment. There was one nickname that he always responded to...so Gabriel gave as close an approximation to it as he could.

"Look at me, Soulshine," he spoke quietly.

It took a few seconds, but Soulful's eyes met his. Gabriel's lips quirked in a weak smile.

"There you are. ...You have to go, sweet Soulshine. You have to let me go," Gabriel spoke.

Soulful's head gave an aborted movement...but his shoulders were sagging as the weight of the situation came crashing down. As he allowed himself to understand that Gabriel couldn't come back from this, that he would be known everywhere he went, and that there was nothing more that could be done.

"Righteous, get him out of here," Gabriel spoke, frowning a bit at the distant sound of sirens. One of the residents in the houses around them must've made the call.

Righteous moved, getting Soulful to lower his weapon, and starting to pull the taller man along.

Gabriel felt the barrel leave the back of his head, undoubtedly aiming to stop the brothers from fleeing, and he whipped around, bringing up his hands and pulling the gun down as he kneed up into Vicky's crotch. The gun discharged, Vic went to his knees in pain, and Gabriel struck him across the head, knocking the agent out.

"Gabriel?!" Righteous called behind him.

"M'fine, go!" he called back. A glance over his shoulder showed Righteous forcibly pulling Soulful along. Once they were well out of sight, Gabriel dropped to his knees.

Bullet wounds _hurt_ like a bitch! He gingerly pulled up his shirt, looking at the entry wound in his stomach. He had no clue how bad it was. But he was bleeding steadily.

"Fuck," he muttered, huffing a breath. He hoped one of those closing-in sirens was an ambulance.


	17. Chapter 17

The bullet wound had been a through and through. Apparently, that was desirable. It'd also missed pretty much everything save a small piece of large intestine. He'd had to be put under to be patched up.

As such, he was cuffed to a hospital bed at present. He was going to be here a few days, at least.

He watched the nurse taking his vitals quietly, not saying anything as she kept shooting him glances. Finally finished noting what she needed, she turned and looked at him, opening her mouth and then closing it with a faint frown.

"What's up, doll?" he invited with a slight smirk.

He was expecting a question about what he'd done to be here, in cuffs. Or maybe she already knew and wanted to give a piece of her mind.

"You're already all over the news," she said quietly. That wasn't terribly surprising. "...There's riots. People demanding your freedom," she added.

That had Gabriel's eyebrows shooting up into his hairline.

"But I'm a killer," he blurted out. Yeah, he knew that media had been debating over him, Sam, and Dean, that there were people that thought what they did was good, but he very much didn't expect _riots_.

The woman nodded. "But not one of your victims had a shred of good in them," she said. She opened her mouth to say something else, but then halted, shaking it. "Turn on the news. It's all there." And then she left the room to continue her rounds.

Two weeks later, Gabriel was sitting in an FBI interrogation room, yet again, with a haggard looking Victor Henrikson sitting across from him.

"Death threats stop, Vicky?" he asked calmly.

"No...but I appreciate you making a statement to the media, Shurley. It's...it's not as bad as it was," the agent admitted.

Gabriel let out a hum and a shrug. "I can only do what I can do," he said, sitting back in his chair.

"You could do more. You could give me the names of the brothers."

"Not happening."

"Can't blame a guy for trying. ...Look, Shurley, I need something. Actually...there is something you might be able to give me. From before you wound up joining them. If you know it."

"...I might. I'll at least tell you if I do or not," Gabriel said, curious.

Vicky opened one of the files and pulled out a picture, sliding it over to him. It held three people, all Asian, one of them old enough to be the mother of the other two.

"This is Linda Tran, her son Kevin Tran, and his girlfriend, Channing Ngo," Vic supplied when he didn't see any recognition out of Gabriel.

Gabriel stared at the picture for a long moment, then shook his head, looking up. "Sorry."

"It was a long shot. We just...everyone one of their victims, we dug and eventually found something, even if circumstantial. This kid...he was Ivy League. And not just that, but cream-of-the-crop, straight laced...there's nothing there. Nothing except--"

"Shit. He went to a strip club," Gabriel said as realization hit him.

Vic blinked, straightening up and nodding. "The night he was killed, yes. Do you--"

Gabriel's expression was thunderous and he knew it. It made Vicky draw up short, having never seen it.

"...Soulful had a girlfriend back then. A girlfriend that knew what he and Righteous did. They came to trust her, and she used them...used him. Got him hooked on drugs and working on less and less evidence."

Vic sat back, his expression saying he knew where this was going. "Where is she now?"

"Dead, I assume. They never supplied that information, but knowing Righteous? He wouldn't have let that bitch live after what she did to Soulful."

"So, what, she lured him into killing an innocent kid? Why?"

Gabriel gave a shrug. "I don't know the full story, just enough. She had them working in Vegas taking out rapists and pimps. Apparently, she didn't draw the line between them and voyeurs."

Vic's eyes went to the picture as he nodded.

"So it was guilt money, then."

"Guilt money?" Gabriel questioned.

Vic looked up, raising an eyebrow, but provided the information. "Linda Tran didn't have a life insurance policy on Kevin. Before she even knew he was dead, there was 20k in her mailbox. ...She told me about it a couple of years ago, said she'd kept it hidden because she'd needed the money for burial expenses.

Gabriel was quiet for a long moment before his lips twitched. "Sounds like my Soulshine. ...Surprised he didn't do more than that, honestly. He's still carrying the guilt," Gabriel supplied.

"Mm," Vic murmured, before standing and beginning to gather things up. "...What was the bitch's name?" he asked without looking up from his task.

Gabriel blinked. That was unlike Vicky...referring to any of their marks in the negative, even if he scrunched his nose up as he spoke some of their names.

"Ruby. Never got a last name," he answered after a short beat.

Victor looked up with a raised eyebrow.

And then it hit him. He'd slipped. They could find a missing person's or case file on Ruby and find the brothers through any connections they she had left behind.

"Vicky--" he started pleadingly, but Vic had shook his head, then gestured up to the camera in the corner of the room.

Gabriel's eyes followed, dread filling him, only for it to fall way to confusion. The camera was unplugged. When had that happened? He looked back at Vic.

The agent was quiet for a moment before shrugging. "Be more careful. Not sure how much longer I can hold on to your case."

He was taken back to his holding cell, fed dinner, and soon was asleep on the uncomfortable cot.

He'd been dreaming, of dimpled smiles and sunlight reflecting in hazel eyes, when he jerked awake to his cell door opening. He turned, looking to see Henrikson.

"Vic? What time is it?"

"Four AM. Come on, we're going for a drive."

Gabriel was curious, beyond curious. But he stood and shuffled over, holding out his wrists. Vic paused for a second, seeming to debate something, then shook it off and clipped the cuffs on before leading the way out.

There was hardly anyone in the building. The few that were looked up, expressions just as confused as Gabriel felt. Not one of them said anything, though. Henrikson was a lead agent on his case. Whatever was going on, they weren't going to question it.

Vicky stuck him in the back of one of the SUVs, walking around and starting it up after he climbed in.

"So...gonna clue me in?" Gabriel spoke as the dark skinned man backed up the vehicle.

"You're not gonna like it," came the reply. And the tone he used brought strength and truth to the words. Gabriel waited as silence stretched before them.

Finally, "Soulful called me."

Gabriel's eyes widened and he gripped the back of the seat in front of him, pulling against the seat belt as he leaned forward. "Victor, what's going on?" he asked, alarm singing through his voice.

"I'm sorry, Gabriel. He's turning himself in. Demanded you be there for it, and that you be there for his interrogation. It's...far against protocol, but I agreed," Henrikson spoke.

"...Nononono, Vicky, please, no. Don't do this, don't let him do this, please," he pleaded.

Victor's shoulders tensed against the pleas, and he made no response.

Gabriel sagged back in his seat with a soft, "Fuck."


	18. Chapter 18

The time on the dash read 4:48 when they pulled into the library parking lot.

Vic parked, killed the engine and got out, drawing around the vehicle and opening Gabriel's door. "Come on," he spoke quietly.

Gabriel almost refused, as if staying in the vehicle could stop this from happening. Sure, it could've been a ruse to free him, but he was sure the brothers understood by this time that he could no longer walk around free.

With a sense of despair settling over his heart, he slid from his seat, moving out of the way for Vic to shut the door.

Once it was closed, Vic's eyes started shooting around the dark. The fingers of one hand twitched, but the agent did not draw his weapon. "...Soulful? We're here," he called.

"Behind you," came Soulful's quiet answer. Gabriel turned, but Vic outright jumped as he spun around.

"Soulshine, why?" Gabriel spoke quietly.

Soulful looked from Vic, to Gabriel, mask in place. And then he was looking back at Vic as he moved. He drew his gun, ejected the clip, emptied the chamber...disassembled the whole thing silently, dropping the pieces to the ground. Then he knelt down, tossing a switch blade from his boot next to the parts. Finally, he stood back up, and before Gabriel could stop him, or say anything to stop him, he had pulled the mask off.

"My name is Sam Winchester," he supplied quietly.

Anguish gripped Gabriel's heart. The damage was done, there was nothing to stop this.

"...Where is your brother, Sam?" Vic asked after a long moment.

"Working on protecting his boyfriend from the fallout. He'll be along in time," Sam supplied, before bringing his hands up, palms skyward, exposing his wrists.

Gabriel couldn't withhold the wounded noise he made as he watched the cuffs clink closed. Hardly a second later, though, Sam had moved around Vic and was cupping his face, kissing him like his very existence depended on it.

All of his awareness zeroed in on Sam and the contact between them. His hands came up, one grasping tight to one of Sam's hands.

It was only a desperate, burning need for air that had them pulling apart.

"I love you," Sam whispered. Gabriel stared up into his eyes, feeling the warmth of his own emotions fill him.

"Gods above, I love you too, you absolute idiot," he murmured back.

Vic allowed them a moment longer before interrupting. "We've gotta get back," he cut in.

Sam nodded, slowly pulling back, but keeping ahold of Gabriel's hand. Vic opened the back door of the SUV, and the couple climbed in. They didn't bother with seat belts as Vic drove them back to the headquarters, instead preferring to sit pressed thigh-to-thigh. Gabriel had a death grip on Sam's hand, and Sam was leaning down, pressing his forehead to Gabriel's. The position was hardly comfortable, but neither could care. For a short while, at least, they would be together again.

More people were in the offices as Vic led the two of them back in. There were curious gazes again...but some sparked with understanding. Gabriel could barely tear his gaze from Sam to analyze what he was seeing from the agents in-depth, but there was more than one conflicted glance sent their way.

Vic took them to an interrogation room right away. This one had a working camera, and four chairs set around the table. Guiding the couple over to one side, he linked their cuffs through the bar on the bolted-down table, then sat in one of the chairs on the opposite side.

"Hold it, Vicky. Food first. Don't look at me like that, I'm betting you haven't eaten yet either," Gabriel cut in.

Vic scowled, then huffed a heavy sigh. "Yeah, alright. Usual?" he asked, standing back up.

"Yeah, and one of those avocado-kale-chicken breakfast wraps for Samshine," he supplied. Vic raised an eyebrow before shaking his head and leaving the room.

Once the door was closed, he turned to Sam. "...I love you so much, kiddo, but this was stupid," he said plainly.

Sam's lips twitched. "Yeah, I know. But I couldn't take it any more. Gabe, I've missed you so bad. I know that...that you're okay, that you're not going through something completely awful, but...dammit, I love you, and I just couldn't deal with being away from you."

"And Dean? You've dragged him into this, too, Sam, and--"

"Not just him," Sam interrupted quietly. Gabriel stilled.

"Sam." He was not happy, and he was holding a small flicker of hope that Sam wasn't saying what he thought he was.

"We're adults with our own freedoms and choices, Gabriel. And if you want the truth, this wasn't my idea at all. It was...it was Cas'."

"What, but...I don't understand, why did Cassie--"

"Dean's been there for him, but Cas has been going crazy. He flat out stopped going to work. Hell, he drank so much, we had to take him to get his stomach pumped, and you know how high his tolerance is! And honestly, if Dean and I hadn't had to focus on keeping him sane, I'm not so sure I wouldn't have been in the same state."

Gabriel was quiet for a moment before shaking his head. "I thought that Cassie hadn't inherited the same emotional state that my family has always had. He's always been so logical."

"Emotional state?"

"Yeah...I used to talk about it with Lucien, before all that went down. Our emotions run close to the surface, and can be overpowering. It took my childhood years in therapy to get them under control, to interact with others in a healthy way. ...But Cassie, he never expressed that before."

"Mm. Maybe it's the thought of losing you again. Maybe it's Dean's influence. Who knows?" Sam spoke softly. "Dean's bringing Cas up tomorrow...turning himself in then, and Cas is going to request to see you."

Gabriel was quiet for a long moment before giving a nod, gently squeezing Sam's hand.

"So...we spilling everything then?"

"Yeah."

"...He asked about Kevin, Sam. I told him what I knew," Gabriel said after a moment.

Sam stilled, looking a little sick, but he nodded. "Thanks," he said, kissing Gabriel's forehead. Gabriel's eyes shut under the soft touch.

He allowed himself just a second to pretend that everything was going to be okay.


	19. Chapter 19

It wasn't much longer before Vic reappeared with food. Sam and Gabriel both looked up as he entered. ...The agent looked more haggard than the day before. But that wasn't right...he now had Sam, and soon would have Dean.

"Vicky? What's going on?" Gabriel spoke as the man passed them their food.

"Media's caught wind that we have Sam. ...Just that we have him, no details or specifics, but..."

"But having another one of the Saviors is making everything worse," Sam speculated.

Gabriel frowned. "Saviors?"

Sam blinked, looking at Gabriel, then Vic, and back. "Once you were caught, and the FBI divulged what they had on you...that you were the Judgement Killer, and had two partners, the media ran with everything they could find on the three of us, on our movements. They gave us the name Saviors," he explained.

Gabriel was in disbelief, and he looked over as Vic nodded, standing with his hands in his pockets. "I'm sorry for keeping you out of the loop, Gabriel, but there's a lot of craziness going on out there. I'm probably being pulled soon, so I may as well tell you. It's more than just riots and death threats. You...you only had a couple of people you saved. The brothers, though? There's a few dozen. They're all coming forward, telling their stories, what they know...it's fueling society to demand the release of all of you, for your case to be dropped."

Gabriel studied Victor for a long few moments. Beside him, he could feel Sam doing the same.

"Knew you were conflicted, Vicky, but I didn't think you'd wind up agreeing with them," Gabriel spoke after a long silence.

Vic shrugged, sitting down finally. "What can I say, pipsqueak? You grew on me. Like a fungus, but still..." he started. His eyes went to Sam then. "Between the three of you, there's only been one innocent person killed."

Sam flinched, his entire face crumpling before it was all quickly shut behind a mask, his expression closed and blank. But Vic had been watching, and saw it all. Gabriel held tight to Sam's hand in a silent show of support and comfort, but he didn't speak up. Sam knew how he felt about the matter already...and Gabriel couldn't say anything further to reassure his boyfriend.

Sam kept the closed, shut-down expression, as the moments stretched, all of them otherwise silent.

Finally, Vic took in a deep breath, squaring his shoulders. "I'd like you to speak with Linda, Sam."

Sam's mask stayed in place, but his grip on Gabriel's hand became punishing. Sam was panicking.

Damned the cuffs chaining their hands down. Gabriel squeezed back tightly, shifting in his seat to look at Sam. He wanted to reach up to him, but this was going to have to do. "Samshine. ...Come on, sweet Samshine, look at me," he spoke, tone soft and warm.

Sam swallowed, breathing slow and shallow. It took a couple of minutes, but he finally broke Vic's gaze, looking down at Gabriel.

"It wasn't your fault. It wasn't, and I know that. You know that. ...And yes, she may blame you, even if you explain it, but Sam? She deserves to know. She deserves to hear it from you," Gabriel told him gently.

Sam's mask slipped away, leaving a look of pure devastation on his face. He nodded, though. "You're right," he whispered. He looked to their hands, grip carefully easing, then looked up at Henrikson. "I'll talk to her."

"Good. I called her while I was out getting breakfast. She booked a red eye...she'll be here just after lunch," the agent said in a factual tone.

Sam nodded, eyes making their way to the table between them.

"Alright, eat Samshine. Vic, ask your questions," Gabriel spoke.

Eating while cuffed to a table was no easy task, but they managed to do it without making a complete mess of themselves and their surroundings. Vic had questioned Sam, mostly, on how he'd gotten into the life of a serial killer.

Learning that he was right, that Sam and Dean had been trained to be killers, didn't seem to bring Vic any satisfaction. If anything, he'd looked upset about it all.

They were stuck back in a holding cell about mid-morning. It was probably largely against protocol, but Vic hadn't separated them.

Lunch rolled around, and neither had the stomach to eat. Gabriel because of concern over Sam, and Sam because of facing the mother of the kid he'd killed years ago.

It was almost two in the afternoon when Vic came for Sam. The couple had already discussed it, and Sam had made the decision to face Linda Tran alone. All the same, Gabriel gave Sam's hand a brief squeeze before letting him go.

When Sam came back, almost two hours later, he barely made it to the middle of the cell before he was crumpling to the floor. Gabriel all but dived off the cot, catching him and holding his boyfriend to his chest. Sam said nothing and did nothing but reach up and clutch onto Gabriel's shirt. Understanding that Sam couldn't talk about it now, Gabriel simply hummed softly, running the fingers of one hand through Sam's mane.

Barely an hour later, when Sam was just starting to come out of the state he'd been in, Vic opened the door. "Hey guys. You've got visitors. Sam, there's a Sheriff Jody Mills to see you. And Gabriel, one Detective Benjamin Lafitte."

Gabriel's eyebrows shot up. Benny?? Oh, boy, this could blow up in his face. He couldn't imagine the detective was going to be very happy...but then, he hadn't really known him all that well, had only spoken with him a handful of times over a year and a half beforehand.

But Jody Mills? Who was that? He shot Sam a curious look, only to see the other smirking in humor. Sam looked over at Gabriel, then frowned, sobering a bit. "Ah...serial killer that went after families. Dean and I, we were too late to save her husband and son. And when we freed her from her constraints, she...she did try to arrest us, but ultimately told us to beat it," Sam informed, standing and looking over at Vic, approaching with his wrists up.

Vic clapped the cuffs on, glancing over as Gabriel approached and waited his turn. Once both serial killers were in cuffs, they were led down a new hallway and into a room that wasn't unlike something seen in prisons; manual phones separated by a large pane of glass and partitions. There was a woman with short cropped hair sitting on one side of a partition, leaning back in her seat and speaking to the man on the other side of the partition. Benny.

Gabriel approached ahead of Sam, drawing their attention. Benny's lips were twisted in a half-smirk, and the woman was looking him over curiously. She then looked past him, seeing Sam. She looked him over, too, with vague recognition. Sam would've been masked during their long-ago meeting, after all...but some things were probably sticking out, like his height and eyes.

Gabriel sat down across from Benny and lifted the phone from its mount. Across from him, on the other side of the glass, Benny did the same.

"Detective...good to see you're well," Gabriel said, forcing himself to lean back in his seat and appear like he was exactly where he wanted to be.

Benny's eyebrows rose at his posture. "And you, cher," the detective spoke. The words seemed true enough, but there was an uncertainty in his tone that made Gabriel smirk a bit.

"What's the matter? Upset you didn't catch me yourself? I'm pretty good at hiding what I am, so y--"

"What upsets me is that Asmodeus Prince operated under my nose for close to eight years without leaving a hint of what he was, and some snarky little shit caught on long before I would have," Benny spoke.

"S'what I do, detective...and I don't have the binds of legality behind it, so it's easier on me than it would be you," Gabriel spoke dismissively.

Apparently that dismissiveness was too much, and the detective snapped a loud, "Shut up!"

It stopped the sheriff next to him from whatever she'd been saying to Sam. At the interruption, Sam looked over at Gabriel. Gabriel couldn't help but smirk at his boyfriend. "He said shut up to me."

Sam chuckled and shook his head. "Tell him you're mine and he can't have you," he quipped. The tone was almost light...but there was an underlying growl of possessiveness that made Gabriel shudder slightly. Fuck, he wished they weren't stuck behind these walls right now.

Carefully keeping a smirk on his lips, Gabriel looked back at Benny. "Hear that? I'm taken, you sweet-talker, you," he purred out.

Benny glanced at Sam, then back to Gabriel. "So he's one of the ones that freed you and killed that prick, hm?"

Gabriel gave a short nod in answer. The detective sat then, quiet and considering for a few long moments.

Benny shook his head. "I can't figure you out, cher. But...given everything the media has been exposing, I can't find it myself to think you're bad, despite your layers of sarcasm and snark," he said.

Gabriel shifted uncomfortably in his seat, looking at the far wall. "Anything else, detective? I have an imprisonment to get back to."

There was a few beats of silence, and then a click. Glancing over showed the detective already turning to leave the room. Gabriel put down his end of the receiver and glanced around. Vic was on the opposite side of the room, talking to another agent, and Sam was saying goodbye to the sheriff.

As the sheriff disappeared from her side of the pane of glass, Sam and Gabriel both stood, turning to one another. The air charged in an instant. And Sam leaned down as Gabriel reached up. Their lips met and melted together in a clash of teeth and tongue. ...It was just getting good when there was a dismayed noise from not far away. "Guys, come on!" Vic spoke.

Sam broke the kiss, clearly reluctant, and Gabriel growled in response before fixing the agent with a glare. "Cock block," he accused flatly.

"Shut up, or I'm not disabling your cell camera tonight," Vic said with a smirk.

Gabriel's brows went up.

"Vic, you could get in major trouble for that," Sam said, concern in his tone.

"Mm, already in trouble. Won't make things that much worse," the agent said with a shrug.

Gabriel wasn't sure what to feel in that moment. Vicky had become a...yeah, a friend, over his time here. To know he was having trouble, probably about to be fired or worse, was upsetting. His gaze slid to Sam, and while Sam didn't know Vic the same way he did, the concern was echoed in his eyes. They both agreed in the silence there, and Gabriel allowed Sam to speak up.

"Don't disable the cameras, Victor. We can keep it in our pants, if it keeps you employed," Sam offered up.

The agent raised his eyebrows in mild surprise, then huffed a faint laugh. "I don't know how, but you all continue to surprise me. I honestly thought..."

"What, Vicky? That we would selfishly chase our own pleasure and let your life collapse in on itself because of that? Not our style, bucko."

"Minimal disruption to the course of a normal life. One of Dad's lessons," Sam added.

Victor's gaze softened for a moment before he shrugged it off and nodded. "Alright, back to the cell. Any idea what time your brother'll show tomorrow?" he asked, turning to lead the way.

Sam and Gabriel glanced at each other in surprise. Vic _trusted_ them. It hadn't been a deliberate show, him turning his back to them like that...he'd just done it, and tipped his hand without thought. Quickly snapping out of it, they moved to follow.

"Uh, definitely before noon. He said morning, but with Dean, that could be as late as eleven," Sam supplied.

The agent nodded, and was soon leaving them in their cell.

And while they were both wanting more, Sam and Gabriel did little more than kiss each other until they were asleep, later that night.


	20. Chapter 20

The next morning brought the tenuous relaxation around them crashing down. They woke to the door opening, and a woman's voice saying, "Take him."

Within seconds, Sam was being pulled from the small cot, both of the killers startling at the action, before Sam started fighting. He'd pulled an arm free from one man and elbowed him in the nose, spinning and punching the other in the throat.

"That's enough, Samuel. If you want even a chance of seeing Gabriel again, you will cease your resistance," the woman's voice came. Gabriel, now standing, turned his attention to the doorway, Sam following suit.

A woman in a sensible skirt, with short blonde hair, stood there.

"Fuck you," Sam snarled, kneeing one of the men in the face as he tried to get up.

"Where's Vic?" Gabriel snapped out beside him.

"On mandatory occupational leave. I'm Director Naomi Tapping, and I've personally taken control of the case on you boys. Enough resisting, now. Sam, it's time you occupy your own cell," the woman said, her voice intoning an impatient air.

"Fuck you," Sam growled again.

Naomi huffed out a sigh. "You're making this far too difficult," she said, pulling a weapon from the back of her skirt. She didn't hesitate in aiming and firing.

Sam yelped as he was hit, Gabriel jumping slightly and rounding to take in the damage.

...A dart was in Sam's shoulder. The younger man pulled it free, eyes wide as he looked to Gabriel.

"Samshine..." Gabriel spoke quietly, seeing the panicked awareness starting to slip from Sam's eyes. He caught the taller man as he came down, then slowly lowered him the rest of the way to the floor. He vaguely heard Naomi's voice, rage blocking out sound, before two more men approached.

The Winchesters had trained him well. The men went down easily. But more came, and after a while, Gabriel was knocked unconscious.

When he woke, it was just him, left on the floor of the cell. The room was colder than it ever had been, in the wake of Sam's absence.

It was the next day before he was dragged, almost quite literally, to an interrogation room. His blood was boiling at the sight of Naomi sitting placidly on one side of the table, a pleasant smile on her lips. He was pushed into the opposite seat and cuffed to the table, before being left alone with the bitch.

"So, Gabriel, tell me about how you met the Winchesters," Naomi began.

He said nothing, and the silence stretched for almost ten minutes before Naomi began to frown.

She leaned back a bit and shuffled through some papers. Gabriel stared flatly as she did so.

Her frown increased for a moment before she smoothed it away, looking up again. "What happened with Arthur Ketch? His death was definitely after you joined with Sam and Dean, but you didn't leave us a note at that scene."

Gabriel gave a slow blink, raising a defiant eyebrow.

Naomi frowned. "You need to answer my questions, Gabriel. Do you not want to see your partners again? To see Sam again?"

Low blow, but he carefully didn't react.

After finally seeing she'd get nothing from him, she stood with a huff and swept from the room.

He was left there for an hour before someone finally came to return him to his cell.

Days passed in this manner. Gabriel practically went mute, and Naomi asked more and more questions. Things that should've been in Vic's notes, and on the recordings of their interrogations.

It was either Charlie or Vic that got rid of those things. Perhaps both. But there wasn't much more that could be done. Sam, Gabriel, they were in custody. They hadn't been able to warn Dean of the change to their case lead, so it was likely he was being held somewhere, too. Gabriel was worried about Cassie, all alone with his brother and lover locked up. Their little family was being kept separate, and gods but it _ached_ not to be around them. Having had Sam back for just a short while had punctuated the hurt. And it was all the worse knowing that his partners were no longer free.

All he could do was frustrate the director as a form of revenge.

"Gabriel Shurley?" a new voice spoke with the opening of the cell door one morning. Gabriel sat up, but said nothing in response. He'd yet to breathe a word since being separated from Sam. The man shifted under his gaze, frowning at the lack of response. "I'm Mick Davies. I'm here to coordinate your transport to ROSP. Could you step forward, please?" the man spoke.

ROSP...Red Onion State Prison. Wasn't that a Supermax? Hmph, they were going all out.

Slowly, he stood and stepped forward, offering his wrists.

"Dean is going to Mount Olive Correctional Complex in West Virginia, and Sam to Wallens Ridge State Prison," Mick spoke as he cuffed him.

Gabriel didn't move as Mick carefully crouched to put shackles around his ankles. ...So this was it. He'd never see Sam again.

A chain was connected between the cuffs and shackles, and Mick was standing again.

"For what it's worth, I am sorry you have to go through this," the agent in front of him added.

Gabriel slowly met his eyes, but he couldn't bring himself to care enough to give any sort of response.

The agent frowned, then gestured for Gabriel to follow him. "Just have to grab paperwork off the computer, and then we're going," he spoke.

Each step felt heavy, but Gabriel followed silently. He was brought out to the cubicles and Mick halted at one a few feet from the hall, leaning over a computer.

Gabriel zoned out for a couple of minutes...before he realized that it shouldn't be taking this long. He looked over, and noticed a confused frown on Mick's lips. The agent glanced at him. "Just...just a second," he said, sitting in the chair and starting to click and type.

About the same time his eyebrows shot up, there was a furious yell across the open area. "Anyone care to explain what the absolute fuck is happening to my case?"

Naomi.

Mick stood slowly. All the agents around them were standing and turning to face the angered director.

Mick had been the only one trying to access those specific files, so he apparently knew. "There is no case, director," he called out. He turned to Gabriel, pulling out a key, and starting to undo his restraints.

"What do you mean there's no...Davies! What are you doing??" Naomi spoke, approaching and drawing up short a few feet away as she saw him releasing Gabriel.

"There is no case, director. And it's illegal to detain a person without cause...even if he's not a US citizen."

Gabriel blinked. Not a citizen? Now he wanted to know what was going on.

Naomi was looking back and forth between them. She didn't have a clue what was going on, but, "We can detain him for 24 hours--"

"Sorry, Director, but I'm certain he's been here for weeks, even if I have no clue who he is."

"...Do not play this game with me, Davies. I will terminate your employment. Put him back in his cell until I fix this!" she barked out, whirling and stomping off.

The agent watched her leave, then looked at Gabriel with a spark of mischief in his eyes. "Can't lock up a ghost," he said.

Gabriel didn't quite get what was going on, but he wasn't leaving. "Sam," he uttered, voice quiet and hoarse from disuse.

"Let me check real quick, but I'm betting he and Dean are good to go, too," Mick spoke, sitting back down at the computer. He was typing for a few moments before nodding. "Their identities are gone. Come on, we have to move," the agent spoke.

Was this Charlie's doing? If so...well, Gabriel wanted to know what had taken so long, but right now, he was just relieved.

He followed swiftly behind the agent. A cell door was unlocked and shoved open, and Mick was moving to another. Gabriel moved into the cell as he went, tension draining from him at the sight of his boyfriend.

"Gabriel!" Sam let out, looking every bit as haggard as Gabriel felt.

They crashed together in the middle of the room, kissing like their lives depended on it, like they were one another's air.

"Love you. Gods, I love you," Sam whispered against his lips as they both took shuddering breaths.

"C'mon guys. We gotta get," Dean's voice came from the doorway.

"Love you, my Samshine," Gabriel returned with a smile, threading the fingers of one hand with one of Sam's, turning and leading the way out behind Dean.


	21. Chapter 21

No one tried to stop them...but then again, it helped that Mick had directed them out a side door.

And there, sitting in the driver's seat of the Impala, was Cassie. He looked like he was sorely lacking in sleep, but as they approached, Gabriel could see how his eyes were lit up in relief and happiness.

Sam and Gabriel climbed into the backseat. Dean went into the passenger seat, sliding across it and pulling Cassie forward by his lapels into what looked like a rough kiss. Castiel didn't object, pressing back just as hard for a moment...but then he ripped away.

"Later, we can't stay," he assured Dean quietly, starting to drive away.

"Cassie, bring us up to speed. You weren't here, waiting, by coincidence. What's going on?" Gabriel spoke before they'd even managed to make it out of the parking lot.

There was silence meeting his question, but looking at him through the rear view mirror revealed that his little brother was trying to gather it all together so that it made sense.

"...In short, some very powerful forces took notice of...of us," Cassie spoke.

"Wait, wait...does that mean your identity is gone, too?" Dean interrupted.

Cassie gave a short nod. "I requested as much, Dean. It made no sense to be alone while you three disappeared. I'd be without my last surviving family member. ...And without you."

"Who? How?" Sam questioned next, wanting to know whose attention they'd gained, and how they'd managed to basically erase them.

The answer was one word. "Anonymous."

Shocked silence from the three killers filled the car.

"Anonymous? The hacker group? ...Why?" Sam finally spoke.

Cassie made a strained noise. "The past few weeks...society has fallen into a great disarray within the US. There are few and far between in the way of people agreeing with your imprisonment. ...At first, there was pure destruction. Looting, cars being overturned and set on fire...but then it all became more organized. Protests, barely peaceful...political arguments for your release, reforms being pushed at the Senate, though they were all rejected.... Charlie was working tirelessly during all of this, trying to find a way to free you three. ...And then Anonymous contacted her. They said that if things kept going as they were, there would be a collapse. That you three needed to be freed. That even though things were trying to be organized in a peaceful manner, it wasn't enough, and it'd fall into chaos again. America is hardly the best country in the world, but it's still a significant power. One they couldn't allow to fall. They--"

"Hold up, Cassie. There's no way that America was going to break for three serial killers," Gabriel spoke.

"There is so much to explain, brother. But the three of you have become a symbol, one associated with divine justice...the media calls you Saviors, and lauds that none can hide from your gaze. And much of society has taken those words to heart.

Gabriel shook his head. It still didn't make sense to him. They were killers. Sure, they saved some people, whether directly or by stopping someone from finding their next victim, but they weren't...they weren't 'divine justice,' they weren't _gods_.

He looked at Sam next to him. Well...Gabriel wasn't a god, but the Adonis that was his boyfriend, he might be.

"...Okay, so what's the catch? What do they want in return?" Dean cut in.

"They've already set us up with identities in another country, as well as Charlie," Cassie answered.

Another shocked silence.

Sam looked at Gabriel. When Gabriel met his gaze, there was warmth there. Gabriel smiled, understanding. They had each other. They'd be alright.

In the front seat, Dean came to the same conclusion as he watched Cassie handling his car. "So, when do we leave?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end. Sorry if it was anticlimatic....  
> There may be a sequel. Maybe some time stamps, too? Not sure just yet, but this story is definitely done.


End file.
